People don't mean to, but they put labels on you and your work. And when someone labels your work as "genre fiction" or "young adult fiction" not because they mean to be discouraging but because your work speaks that language, you feel the sting. You feel the sting because maybe that wasn't what you were going for. Suddenly you are classified alongside all the people and artists that you thought you were better than. Suddenly you realise you are no better than the pulp, fan fiction creators who haven't broken through the realm of what the elitists and gate keepers call "real art".
But – what is real art?
To me art is what art feels like. I write and draw the stories because doing it makes me feel alive. I don't do them to make a living, but to add meaning to the life I live. I don't aim to be a genre artist. I don't mean to play by stereotypes.
I DO IT BECAUSE I FEEL MADE FOR IT.
If I was to not make a single cent from the work I make, I believe I'd still find time and energy to make it. I would work hard to fund the luxury and the freedom to keep creating. I'd never stop. This is who I am.
I only get anxious and overthink when I am trying to make it in the eyes of other people. I'm not gonna lie, it would be nice to "make a living" with this specific thing that I enjoy doing. But if I stop myself and remember, I AM making a living with my creativity. I AM making a living problem solving and creating work that I am proud of.
Overthinking can slow me down in the process of creativity. Overthinking leads me to waste a lot of time (and for me today, one whole afternoon) feeling inadequate and like an imposter.
Labels are what people put on you – and they have no choice but to do so. My responsibility is to own that corner and be a faithful representative of that category of creativity I inhabit, believing that my presence in that corner of that genre is God-given.
If I write corny genre fiction meant for young adults, then I must become the greatest writer and storyteller of genre fiction I can be – while enjoying every second of the experience of creation.