How to be a (non-starving) artist

Part of my new full-time job is convincing my mother that I won't starve from being a professional musician before I become Mrs. Maestro next October. I admit the thought of it is a little daunting, but possible nonetheless. The most notable change will be in the way I get paid. About the only thing that I'll miss about former-hateful-day-job-that-shall-remain-nameless is the income direct-deposited into my checking account every other Friday. Instead, I'll get paid in large chunks by contract for each gig I complete. I'll get some mad money to supplement that income from teaching private voice, and hopefully that will amount to about half of the green that I use to... you know... not starve. I just have to practice pacing my spending so that I can make those large chunks of cash last until the next one appears. And to survive, I just have to close a show every 4-6 weeks and teach between 20 and 30 hours a month.

So how close am I to making that happen?

Well, I already had existing contracts for gigs ending in December and January, so I have no worries until then. I've booked contracts for gigs ending in March, May, June, and July, so I'm out of the woods for 6 out of the 11 months before the Maestro makes an honest woman out of me. I'm working on a contract for a gig I really want for February and haven't quite figured April out yet. I'm continuing to hustle, and am about halfway there to not allowing my mother's worst fears come to life.

I'll keep you updated on how it goes.

Until then, I'll leave you with a video that reflects my daily sentiments...