"Success" and Longevity in a Creative Career

What's the secret sauce? I have the recipe!

Rosalind Brackenbury (R) launches her novel “Bone Whispers,” in Key West.

Hello new friends! You’re reading a monthly newsletter called The Curious Kat, in which I seek to inspire and create community by sharing ideas about creativity. I write about books, movies, art (sometimes music, too) and my own publishing experiences. Welcome!

Longevity

Not every artist wants a long career, but I’d bet most of us do. And generally, I believe, we make better art as we age (we’re bolder!).

This weekend I had the privilege of interviewing poet and fiction writer Ros Brackenbury on the release of her 20th book, Bone Whispers (a novel). With an eye for detail, she explores her characters’ yearnings and insecurities, while drawing us into her specific world so deeply we forget everything else. She presents a mystery, while exploring what truth means, the mysterious cycles of our landscape and our lives, and the foibles of human beings trying to connect.

It got me thinking, again, about what success means to me. It’s not about how many books you publish, money (few of us get rich in this field), or glory. So then what is it?

Talking with Ros, I know exactly what success is.

It’s working hard at something you love, being (and hopefully remaining) relevant, and enjoying your labor. If you can achieve those three things, you’ve got it made.

Despite a bone-chilling wind, Ros commanded a full house—and the full moon was rising behind us as we talked. It was magical, and everything I dream of when I think about what it means to “be a writer.”

Work it, baby

I love working hard. I look forward to Mondays. I’ve always understood just how lucky this makes me.

The only place where success comes before hard work is the dictionary. ~Vidal Sassoon

I’m trying to convey this hard truth to an adorable and incredibly spacey 16-year old I’m mentoring (adorable because he tells the truth even when it reflects badly on him, and because he maintains intense eye contact).

He’s not a reader and answers almost every question with “I don’t know” — even a question like, “What are you studying in history?” I’m trying to figure out what he’s curious about, and how I can get him to take small steps in the right direction, like getting to school on time (seriously).

Personally, I’m so aware of how much I don’t know, and there’s so much I want to learn about. I’m not sure how you can live a fulfilling life if you’re not curious and hard working.

At the risk of being preachy, I shared this with my mentee. We DO have control over certain things in our lives! (FYI I don’t really agree that “excellence is a choice,” except in that you can only attain excellence if you make the choice to work hard.)

Finding an audience

We need an audience to be successful, we don’t need a million dollar advance or a blockbuster opening weekend. I mean, technically, in this business, maybe we do, but for us personally, what we need is an appreciative audience. Even, sometimes, an audience of one is enough.

Reach out to an artist and tell them how much you love their work. It feeds our souls. One person paying attention to our work can get us in the mindset to keep going. Do it now—or call someone out in the comments!

A lovely friend of mine invited me to go to the Sundance Festival in Park City Utah this year, along with my friend and former agent (she repped me 15 years ago and we became friends). After the intensity of the Key West Literary Seminar (my paid job), it was a welcome change of scenery and pace.

Not to mention inspiring.

One movie really stuck with me: In the Summers, which won the Grand Jury Prize for Drama (beating out Jessie Eisenberg’s A Real Pain, which snagged a $10 million distribution deal). Tagline: On a journey that spans the formative years of their lives, two sisters navigate their loving but volatile father during their yearly summer visits to his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Visually, it’s one of the most beautiful films I’ve ever seen.

In his first film role, the Puerto Rican rapper Presidente (formerly of Calle 13) plays the father. Holy sh*t. Frankly, he steals the movie.

Does it mean you’re a failure if you don’t get a distribution deal? Does it mean you’re a success if you win the Grand Jury Prize?

This movie proves that Alessandra Lacorazza Samudio, the director, has incredible vision and determination. She made the audience think and cry and smile. An audience of one, hundreds, perhaps thousands. Will it get a distribution deal and be seen by millions? I hope so.

Her interest is in subtly chaotic scenes that depict recognizable personality flaws, which feel fascinatingly in contrast with the visuals. Cinematographer Alejandro Mejía’s meticulously composed frames occasionally draw our eyes to a precisely positioned horizon line, almost as if the images tried to provide the stability missing from the characters’ homelife. To announce each new chapter and time jump, the director utilizes a shot of a changing altar with objects pertinent to a particular stage of life and accompanies these tableaux with lively Latin tunes, often achieving a disorienting result. ~ Variety, Jan 23, 2024

On Writing

This self-published memoir was designed to be an ‘object d’art’

Last week I read this article, ‘Ode to a Punk Rock ‘Sex God’’ in the New York Times, and I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days. If you’re interested in publishing and/or memoir and/or punk rock, I highly recommend reading the article (gifted).

Little by little over the last few years, “A Year on Earth With Mr. Hell,” a self-published, sex-heavy memoir by an unknown author, has become a word-of-mouth hit among artists and writers. The novelist and screenwriter Nick Hornby called it “gripping.” The critic Greil Marcus described it as “the most graphically effective sex writing I’ve read in a long time.” Capitalizing on its cult success, the Standard, High Line, a hotel in New York that makes an appearance in its pages, has placed copies in some suites and is selling the book through its website. ~ Minju Pak for The New York Times

First, I was curious because the article positions the book as a “cult hit.” What does that mean?

Of course I looked it up immediately as I suspected this didn’t translate into sales. I determined that in this case, cult hit means important people in the arts world passed around copies to each other and gossiped about the tell-all sex senes. When I first looked it up on Amazon, it had six reviews, and now, a week later, it has 50.¹

Richard Hell, the aforementioned ‘sex god,’ calls it revenge porn and Kim responds, “Any work of art of any worth (not a Hallmark card) is going to upset someone.”

I admire boldness. I’m fascinated by memoirists who are willing to put themselves out there (I could never do it). I felt this way after reading the quiet and lovely memoir, How to Catch a Frog by Heather Ross. The older I get the more I admire this kind of bravery.

I had to wonder, what did Young Kim set out to achieve with this book, and does she consider it a success?

My new novel (about which I’m writing more in the next newsletter) is much racier than my previous work. Every time I read the sex scenes, I think, “what will my parents think...?” And then, I keep going. Arg!

To be successful, you have to work hard and be bold, right?!

1. This means an article in the NYT moves the dial in terms of sales (never a guarantee).