Welcome to Morning Ink, where I share my daily fountain pen drawing and whatever thoughts (sometimes none, mostly reasonably short, occasionally long and very rambling) jump out and onto the screen. If you don’t want daily emails you can toggle them off by going to Manage subscription – just turn Morning Ink off, no need to fully unsubscribe!1
I went off down a florid path this morning, while listening first to Claire Venus ✨ in yesterday’s Day 1 of Soulful Selling on Substack challenge, while my fountain pen sat in a jar of water to help it flow better again (the ink keeps clogging up and I’m needing to wash it out way more often than previously) then to Storia del nuovo cognome, while drawing the tiles and the day and finally to Normal Women, while drawing the flowers, which are loosely inspired by my beautiful pencil case, that I bought in Mulhouse in September.
I am in one of those phases where I wonder about if and how I could make some money from Substack, and whether I want to. So following Claire’s challenge seems like a good idea.
I really don’t want to paywall anything that I am writing here, because then it becomes work. I am not sure why I am reluctant for it to become work. But I also think that can sometimes cause me issues with trying to get my illustration business to surpass its predominantly pin money status, with very occasional influx of real money.
Because both these things (writing and drawing) give me peace and calm and joy. And that can’t come from work, surely? Except that, for many years, I have also got peace and calm and joy from my other work, and actually still do.
And then, the big question whenever thinking of making money for something is ‘What value do I give?’ I know that when it comes to book and editorial illustration commissions and also pattern design. I don’t know that here. And any value, if being paid for on a subscription model, would need to be sustained. My tendency to pivot would struggle to fit in with that.
I have a tonne of ideas of things I could offer, consistently, but none, or few, of them are shouting joy at me. Then again, maybe I would sustain better if it was work and wasn’t tied to joy.
I also tend to think along the lines of most activities being able to tick more than one priority. So, I listen to mind-expanding books, or podcasts while drawing, or catch up on TV. Morning Ink is a soul-filling and mindful practice to me. But it also feeds into, and out of, my illustration and pattern work. For the six months or so I was consistently posting to The Illustrated Plant Kitchen I had in mind that I was building up two future non-fiction book pitches. I mean, I was. I have them sat, unfinished (in terms of the marketing words) in my One Drive folder. Having a double purpose helps me feel motivated, and if I can manage to trick myself into giving something a triple or quadruple purpose it can be even better.
So the idea of potentially coming up with an offer, a value, that is just one thing, and that is purely to provide something that people will pay for, feels uncomfortable.
And then my biggest block comes up. Theoretically, one where I do not want to let people down. I do not want to call myself an expert in something and have someone question that. I do not want someone to pay to subscribe, expecting one thing and then be disappointed, or even angry, when I pivot, or just do not deliver as fully as they wanted or not what they understood it to be.
Because, much more than being a people pleaser, I am a seasoned conflict avoider.
Thanks for hanging out inside my self-centred, anxiety-fuelled head. Again.
Thanks so much for being here. Your presence on its own is a joy, but I love to hear from you, too, so please do feel free to leave a comment. About something that has resonated for you in today’s picture or in today’s words. Or about something completely unrelated. Tell me about your morning, your creative practice, your particular work or life juggling act. Anything. If you want to go even further you can take out a paid subscription – if you’re happy to give me your postal address I'll send you some art of some kind in the post.
And if you don’t like subscriptions (I totally get it!) you can ‘tip me’ instead. But really, your presence and comments are the best rewards – if they could be exchanged for food and electricity, I’d be so very happy.
