Or any other skill.

A widely held view is that artists work by inspiration. And by that is meant that the artist waits patiently until moved to do his craft – whether writing or painting or whatever it might be.

Maybe some artists do this. If so, you can be sure that that artist has produced little and is little known. Because it simply isn’t the way true artists work.

Because an artist is a craftsman, and as such, the artist does what he’s skilled at. Like almost any other worker, a productive and skilled artist devotes a given amount of time to work, knowing that in a real sense, inspiration is the product of time spent doing your work.

History is replete with examples of this. Michelangelo was an enormously skilled and talented artist, but his work came from a workshop where lesser artists worked with him to produce the masterpieces he is famous for today.

Mark Twain almost churned out books. Twain was famous for getting into financial difficulties, and when he did, he resolved the problem by writing yet another book. And while a few of them are mediocre, most of them are interesting, enjoyable reads, now over a century past their publication.

Because that’s what a real artist does. A real artist knows that inspiration is a function of applying oneself to whatever skill you, and doing it. Continual doing the skill in turn hones one’s craft, and makes it better.

Dilettantes play at their art, sometimes because they are lazy, and sometimes because they have a false belief that work done on a schedule is beneath their dignity or art.

But if you are an artist (of whatever type) you’re an artist because you do that art. Not because you imagine yourself to be an artist or because someone has certified you in that field, but because you do what you are given to do.

Some work the artist does will be ordinary, some mediocre, and some truly great. But it’s also a numbers game, and the more work you do, the more great work you will do.

So whatever your skill, get to work. Do your job, the best you are able, keep doing it, and let time sort out the results. Stop judging your work, stop ceaselessly evaluating it, and just do it.