You can do it.

Once upon a time I was in my very first art show. It was terrifying and exciting and wonderful. I left the show feeling like I was on top of the clouds, flying around. My life's dream was finally coming to fruition after years of hard work honing my skills as both an artist and a business woman. Cloud 9 doesn't begin to cover it.

Once I stepped out of the show and packed up the car I stopped in my tracks and looked to my fiancee and told him, "This is what I want to do for the rest of my life." In the high of this night I went home and fervently began planning my next show. I sent the woman who had planned my first show an email. I guess I was hoping for encouragement, or even a bit of information on how to break into the business from someone who was really making it.

What I got back in response was so very different, though.

What she sent me back was that, "Artists can't make a living in Michigan." She went on to explain that no one in Michigan can possibly make a living in the art world, and that even making a go of it is borderline insanity. She said that artists are less than a dime a dozen.

A kick to the pants much? I read the email and couldn't even breathe. I'd felt like someone I barely knew had just told me that I was worthless and incapable. Besides! What did she know about me and my stubborn ability to do whatever I set my mind to?

I started planning doubly hard. I booked shows for every weekend of the summer, I got my art put up in galleries and coffee shops and everywhere else that I possibly could think of.

And I began to make it.

I'm not there yet. I'm getting there. Week by solid and sordid week I pull myself closer to making a living at what I love. Some days I feel like I can't do it. Like I must be crazy for trying, but in my heart I know that I can do this. I can make a living--a good solid living-- at what I love. I can be successful, and NO ONE has the right to tell me otherwise.