{"id":14301,"date":"2015-02-12T16:02:01","date_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/i-wonder-if-its-possible-to-create-an-art-a\/"},"modified":"2015-02-12T16:02:01","modified_gmt":"2015-02-12T16:02:01","slug":"i-wonder-if-its-possible-to-create-an-art-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/i-wonder-if-its-possible-to-create-an-art-a\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

I wonder if it\u2019s possible to create an art, a business, that\u2019s more
\nwelcoming to the talented people we lose during the grind. I wonder if
\nwe can be honest about how difficult it is while also being supportive
\nto those who struggle, instead of telling them to suck it up. The
\nprofession we\u2019ve chosen is not easy \u2013 but nor is becoming a brain
\nsurgeon or a nuclear scientist or a marine biologist. We choose, and we
\nwork, and we hope we get lucky. We hope that life\u2019s oftentimes tragic
\ncircumstances don\u2019t waylay us on the journey there. We are lucky if we
\nstart three steps ahead of others, with money in the bank, a supportive
\nfamily, good health. It costs us nothing, if we\u2019re starting three steps
\nahead, not only to reach a hand out to help those behind, but to work
\ntoward building a world that reduces the distance so many have from the
\nstarting line. <\/p>\n

I have seen the cultures that \u2018\u2018just suck it up\u2019\u2019 companies build,
\nand they are filled with the same cruel people, the same hungry, selfish
\n faces. I don\u2019t want to build a writing community like that, where only
\nthe biggest jerk on the island wins. We do people a disservice by
\npretending that the game isn\u2019t rigged, and that selfish people don\u2019t get
\n ahead. <\/p>\n

Maybe the best road, the best map to hand to someone breaking into
\nthe business, is to say, \u2018\u2018Yes, this is hard. It\u2019s full of horrible
\npeople, sometimes. You\u2019re going to be rejected, and lonely, and feel
\ngreat despair and outrage and sorrow. But if you stay here, if you stick
\n with it, you can be part of building a better way through, of busting
\ndown a wall, yanking down some barbed wire, or just being the lifeline
\nfor a new writer who needs a sympathetic ear before she throws in the
\ntowel. If you survive the road that gets you here, you can help build a
\nnew road that others can travel more easily.\u2019\u2019 <\/p>\n

That\u2019s the school of writing I want to teach. The hopeful but
\npragmatic one, where we\u2019re all in this together, and the best is yet to
\ncome.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

Kameron Hurley: The Privilege to Publish; the Power to Persevere<\/a><\/h2>\n

(via <\/p>\n

mostlysignssomeportents<\/a><\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I wonder if it\u2019s possible to create an art, a business, that\u2019s more welcoming to the talented people we lose during the grind. I wonder if we can be honest about how difficult it is while also being supportive to those who struggle, instead of telling them to suck it up. The profession we\u2019ve chosen […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"quote","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10],"tags":[101,511,512,510],"class_list":["post-14301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-quote","hentry","category-words","tag-art","tag-creative-practice","tag-perseverance","tag-writing","post_format-post-format-quote"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6PWot-3IF","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rafaelfajardo.com\/portfolio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}