What does it mean to live a creative life? with Jodie Fitzsimons
"If you’re not making plans then you’re not being proactive and that often leads to procrastination and failure to follow through. That used to be me!"
Warami and welcome to the What does it mean to live a creative life? series.
I don't know about you but growing up I never would've believed living a life of creativity – actually earning money from writing and art! – was possible. Yet here I am with my debut picture book out in March 2025 with two more on the way. The possibilities feel endless and it's incredibly exciting! But it's also tricky to manage writing and art along with my editing work and being a parent. Let's not even get started on other things like being social and looking after my health. It's a juggle, and I never quite feel on top of it.
But, I am working on figuring out how to better juggle all the things, and a big part of that is by reading and learning from others. So, in this series, we'll look at how fellow creatives are living a creative life and what that means to them. We all measure success in different ways and we all have differing priorities, but there's much we can learn from one another, so let's dive in.
Meet Jodie …
is a multi-genre writer and author, a casual teacher in primary and secondary settings, and a former dancer, dance teacher and amateur theatre performer. She is an early-forties mum of an eight-year-old and a ten-month-old, married to a ‘lawn’ guy and living near the peninsula in Melbourne.Jodie, what creative things do you do? Tell us about your creative pursuits whether you classify them as your job or hobby or side hustle, we'd love to hear about all of them.
At the moment, I’ve been focused on just one big creative project that I currently see as a side hustle, with hopes it will turn into a job. As an aspiring children’s author, I started the ‘Bold Author, Budding Artists’ series, where I create picture books using my stories alongside the illustrations of local talented school students and provide readings on YouTube with teacher notes and resources. I’m absolutely loving it because, not only am I reworking old stories and trying to come up with new ideas for future books, I’m also designing the books on Canva, which I’m teaching myself to use as I go, learning how to upload and publish with KDP, and I started my own YouTube channel where I have to write scripts and create my own videos. So, at the moment, I am a writer, but I’m also a designer, director, performer and publisher! It’s been such a joy bringing all of this together and I can’t wait to do more.
Where are you at with your creative pursuits right now? How do they fit into your life? If more than one, is one a main priority?
My first picture book, A Kids-Only Christmas, has now been published (available on Amazon) and the YouTube video is live and ready to view.
The next two books are sitting with schools and currently being illustrated, which is really exciting. This whole series really got started because I’ve been on mat leave since Christmas ‘23. I wanted to make the most of my time and really try to get my writing career off the ground. So, luckily for me, I’ve had the luxury of not going to a ‘day job’ this past year and the cooperation of a pretty well behaved newborn to be able to fit all this into my life right now!
What does living a successful creative life look like to you? Are you living that right now? Or working towards it?
I definitely wouldn’t say I’m living it right now, but I’m certainly working towards it. For me, having a successful creative life would mean being able to do the things that fulfil me, in and out of the 9-5 hours, and being able to make a comfortable living while doing it. In my instance, that would look like me being a paid author, working in schools and corporations doing speaking engagements, author talks and writing workshops. I would also love to have the time and energy to take some dance classes and get back to being able to express myself physically as well.
Are there obstacles you feel are in the way of you living a successful creative life right now? If so, what are they? What do you think would help move past those obstacles?
Finances are usually the biggest obstacle. Until I make profits and start booking jobs, I will most likely have to go back to casual teaching while I wait for this to grow. Family schedules can make things difficult at times too. For example, I’d love to book myself in for some dance classes, but with my husband’s work and my 8-year-old’s schooling and extra curricular activities, there aren’t many windows where the right adult classes fall at the right time when I’m not either watching my son’s activities or needed at home with my 10-month-old. Casual classes aren’t cheap either! I might be able to move past these obstacles if my creative venture takes off and grows into a business, but also, I think once my daughter’s a bit older and she moves into either daycare or kinder it might make some things a bit easier. Or maybe we put that off for a while so I can focus on getting this venture up and running and save on child care costs … Haha, to be confirmed!!
How do you prioritise your creativity? Do you want to prioritise it more or are you content with where you're at?
I actually have been prioritising my creativity more now than I ever have before. It feels critical to do it now while I can and to try to make something really big happen, so, while my daughter sleeps, I’ve been doing more of my creative work than worrying about having a super clean house or planning what’s for dinner! My husband can confirm this ... Things do eventually get cleaned and we do actually eat, but it’s more of an after thought at the moment once the important creative stuff is done!
Do you have short- and long-term plans for your creativity? If so, what are they? If not, do you think you need one? Why/why not?
In regards to this new project of mine, my short-term plans are just to do what I need to do to ensure I can get a book out every couple of months, but the long-term plans are much bigger than that. I want to have books out monthly at the very least and I want to invite guest authors into the series so the students and the audience can get exposed to a variety of writing styles and subjects. I want to promote upcoming Aussie authors and help them get their names out there and I want students from all states of Australia to be involved and not just local to me.
I think if you want to be a success you certainly need to have some short and long-term plans in place, or at least marinating in your mind. If you’re not making plans then you’re not being proactive and that often leads to procrastination and failure to follow through. That used to be me!
What's one big dream you have for your creativity? Share your wildest, grandest dream even if you think it's unattainable.
I still dream of having a publisher reach out and tell me they want to publish one of my stories. I know that self-publishing is a completely legitimate route authors are taking these days, but there’s something that still feels dreamy to me about having a top five publisher wanting to print my words in a traditional way.
As for my ‘Bold Author Budding Artists’ series, a wild dream I have for that is for a publishing house to approach me with an offer to support or back the series in some way. I don’t even know what that would look like but it sounds amazing! Haha. To have the series recognised nationally in the publishing world would be beyond my wildest dreams!
Do you have any exciting news/events etc. you'd like to share?
As I mentioned above, my new Christmas book is now available to purchase (a percentage of profits will be going to the Literacy Foundation for Children) and also available on YouTube to watch. My second story, No Sniffs or Butts has just come out, while my third, a fun Easter story, should be out by the start of April.
I’m also hoping to do a small launch of the series in a few months time, which I was wanting to do when the series went live, but with the end of year and school holidays approaching, I wasn’t able to make it work with the schools. But I do want to celebrate all of this — and perhaps garner some exposure — by having a series launch. I’d love to be able to make that work around Easter time and just have some fun with it.
Would you like to share what it means to you to live a creative life and feature right here on Creating Through Chaos? Reach out via email or click the button below to find out more.
Connect with Jodie and her work
I acknowledge the Darkinjung people as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I am writing from today. I walk, talk, write, and create with respect on this land, and I acknowledge the enduring connection the Darkinjung people have with this Country; I thank them for their care of this Country, and I pay respects to the Elders past and present, and extend that respect to any Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here reading or listening.
Thank you so much for the feature, Melissa-Jane!