Where do you find people who are good for you, who enhance your growth as an artist and who increase your confidence to keep up the work? For some people, a writer’s group or some similar association works well. For others, a certain spiritual affiliation is most helpful, such as people from church or a small group from that faith community.
Some people find community primarily through others of like gifts-other artists. Sometimes it’s enough to have close by the works of other artists. In the same way you might find spiritual companionship through the writings of C. S. Lewis of St. Teresa of Avila, you can find creative company through the works of other artists, living or dead.
You can find community through a class where people like you hang out. You can find it through one or two good friends who can truly appreciate your work. You may not find community where you’d hoped; many artists are disappointed at how little community they find in their own family or in their religious organization. The point is to find it where it actually is and not worry about where you don’t find it.
– from “The Soul Tells a Story: Engaging Creativity with Spirituality in the Writing Life” by Vinita Hampton Wright Loyola Press
