30 in 30, The Recap (and Lessons Learned)

So with a little over a week to digest the “results” of my 30 in 30 project, I thought I’d share with you some insights I picked up, and an easy place to check out all the offerings for something that might catch your eye.

Pros:
• Actual completion of the project. I’m not gonna lie (stupid saying, maybe the stupidest ever — anyone you trust wouldn’t need to say they aren’t lying, and anyone who was planning to lie to you wouldn’t call attention to their level of honesty), there were times where my not-quite-best laid plans had fallen all to hell and I didn’t think I was going to get anything out on a given day. Somehow this never happened, though I couldn’t say to you with a straight face that everything I posted was of equal quality.

• It got me doing. A shortened version of a big philosophy of mine is that the action of doing something that you are passionate about is often a greater success than the actual product you create as a result of that passion. That is to say, the very fact that I was able to force myself to make time in my life for creation again was in-and-of-itself a better accomplishment than any of my rambling writings, poor cover songs, etc.

• Networking. No, really. For as much as social “networking” is all the rage, if we’re being honest very little (if any) social networking is actually networking related. More often it’s trying to track down the hot co-workers’ bikini pics and avoiding finding out which of my friends go engaged most recently. Or maybe that’s just me. But what 30 in 30 was able to do was really open my eyes to the resources around me in terms of areas where I lack expertise (photography, directing, etc.), and force me to network with people who are actually good at those areas where I’m even more lacking than usual.

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The First Time I Sold Myself (aka Handbook for the Sellout)

Somewhere betwixt the early 20th century and the late 20th century, it became very vogue for “discerning artistic consumers” (read: pretentious A-holes) to ridicule successful artists for “selling out”.  The idea being that any artist able to turn a profit in their medium (music, acting, writing, painting, etc.), had clearly abandoned their ideals and convictions in order to do so.  After they sold out, they became puppets of The Man, and as such, were incapable of producing anything genuine and spectacular anymore, which made them less cool in the eyes of the “in the know” consumers — and by association served as a way for these same D-bags to judge the people who still supported said artist.  These hip, trendy consumers have clearly never had to pay rent before — because how else could they possibly justify hating on people who have spent years struggling to eke out a living in the arts unless they’d never had any bills or financial responsibilities of their own; and as a result, were totally oblivious to the fact that artists have to support themselves and their families on something other than dreams and smiles.