They say do what you love and you will never have to work a day in your life…
Well, that’s partly true and partly bullshit. Most of us creatives who have chosen to follow our passion and not go the conventional way of getting ourselves a 9-5 job, wearing pant suits Mon-Fri and expecting a pay cheque at the end of every month also have it rough at least on most days. Being a creative, as much as we love doing what we do, be it poetry, writing, fashion, blogging, music, or art in whatever form comes with its own struggles.
Here are some of them:
1. Selling your work
Here you are, with the impeccable piece you just made, but simply cannot sell it to someone. No, not that it’s not nice but just…no one really wants to support you. You know what I have learned? It’s actually easier to start selling your art to strangers rather than close friends. Strangers are more willing to support you than people you know. What can I say? It’s a dog eat dog world.
Images by Dafe Moritz
2. Difficulty in selling your idea
How many cases have been there of talented people trying to sell their idea such as content made for TV to media giants only to be shooed away and months later, a TV show with the same idea they had presented, tweaked just a wee bit airs on TV? And you wonder why Kenya’s film industry is nothing close to the South/West African or Hollywood standard…
image: giphy.com
3. Plagiarism & copyright infringement
As an artiste, one of the most painful things ever is to see your original work published/sold without your permission and without any credit given to you. Is it really that difficult to include the original writer or source?. Who the hell raised you?! In all honesty, these days, originality and authenticity has gone to the dogs!
in which this white filmmaker @marionalloreta stole my work. top image is from my 2014 film UDUDEAGU. pic.twitter.com/T2TyRoivxf
— akwaeke emezi (@azemezi) September 24, 2016
4. Copyrights/Law
The way the Kenyan law is set up, you’re better off confronting the person culpable of copyright infringement rather than the time-consuming and expensive, more often than not fruitless court process. What a demotivating fact.
Image:giphy.com
5. Translating from heart to paper
How many times have you thought of the perfect verse for your song or topic for your written piece only to write it down and it just doesn’t have that oomph while on paper? It’s like…decaf coffee. So blah!
6. Being perfectionists
We creatives are constantly pushing ourselves to be perfect. So much that sometimes we tend to overdo things say adding more vocabulary to a written piece or even more details onto a painting, so much that it ends up losing its authenticity.
7. Being afraid to make mistakes or be judged
As a Writer, many are the times I have done away with a topic because I was afraid of being judged by people who do not agree with my opinion. How many times have you stopped yourself from sketching a design or writing a song because you were afraid of what people would think?
8. Experiencing the dreaded creative block
You simply have no new ideas. You feel like you need to go on a holiday and re-invent yourself…and as if that’s not enough, you are barely productive during the day but come the night time, that’s when you can’t sleep cause all these different ideas somehow start flowing and you need to sleep with a book and pen by your bedside.
9. Not having a constant monthly payment
The beauty of a conventional 9-5 job is sitting pretty knowing that at the end of the month, you will get paid, come what may. Being a freelancer on the other hand … sometimes you survive only by the blood of Jesus!
Image:giphy.com
You might also want to read on reasons why job hunting in Nairobi seriously sucks and also highest paying government jobs in Kenya in 2016.
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