I remember going to a Border’s store in Virginia during a book tour five or six years ago, and there was a mix-up about the dates and there was not a single person in the audience, I was looking at 70 empty chairs for the first time in my writing career. The store manager was in a panic and I saw  him whispering to some employees who pulled off their name tag ID’s and slid into the chairs pretending to be fans. For me, the essence of being a profession is that you give as good a reading and talk for two people as you would for 1,000 and I’ve had the chance to do both. I told myself that I would give that night my full enthusiasm and focus, and I did, and I took questions too and signed three books,  and I am prouder of that reading than any other I have done publishing 23 books.

I was reminded of this today when Maria and I went to see an outdoor concert sponsored by a local arts center and the town’s Chamber of Commerce. Athena Burke is a good friend of Maria and Maria is very loyal to her friends, and I was very happy to go,  Athena is a successful singer and lyricist with a wonderful voice and a large following all over the country. Cambridge is a small town and it was about 90 very humid degrees when we got there, there were perhaps a dozen sweltering people scattered around in lawn chairs or sitting on the ground.

I felt for Athena, it was tough to sing and keep a singer’s energy up, I was soaked and drowsy in seconds, she sang for two hours.  She told jokes, bantered with her percussionist, talked to the audience as if she was in Carnegie Hall. Afterwards Maria and I turned to one another and talked about her professionalism, how she never flagged, complained or showed anything but great energy and enthusiasm. She gave a great concert in front of a handful of people in awful weather.

Creative people do not have easy lives in America, not now, when the country’s political leaders and many people are so hostile and indifferent to the arts. They struggle through rejection, corporate control of the culture, a distracted public.  Art programs have been slashed all over the country, as have grants and library budgets. Athena, like all artists,  is constantly looking for grant money, which is increasingly scarce, making and selling her CD’s. Writers and artists are having a rough time now, all the ones I know are working harder than ever for less and less money. But I know few who have given up or quit. Part of being creative, I think, is being creative about challenge and change, that may be the most creative thing any of us ever do. I see this spirit so often in the creative people I know. They just keep making their good stuff, and somehow, most of them get by, committed and grateful to be writing their books, singing their songs, making their quilts and potholders. You just can’t break them.

I was glad we went to see Athena. Not only did we get to hear a great concert for free, but watching her made me proud of the professionalism that all good artists and writers value. I strive for it in my own work, I see it every day in Maria.  It is something we see and respect in one another as well as other artists and writers.

When Athena finished, Maria went up to congratulate her, she said it must have been hard to show so much energy and excitement in the wilting heat. Not at all, said Athena, she sings just as hard for a dozen people as she would for five hundred, no matter the weather. Like me, she believes that is what professionalism is.  I am proud to be living a creative life, it is always challenging, always rewarding, never static, never easy. The creative spark is sacred to me, and it shines brightly, even in a small town pagoda on a stifling July afternoon.