In Chapter 9, Kleon ask his reader to assess their own behavior as an artist. Rather than focus on one’s behavior toward the larger community, this chapter focuses on creatives’ behaviors toward themselves and conveys Kleon’s interest in self-care and in art as an inherently beneficial process.

It also challenges the trope of the “tortured artist” (119), a trope that Kleon thinks is informed by a handful of notable artists in the 21st century who either suffered from addiction or exhibited troubled behavior. Published in 2012, Kleon’s writing predates the cultural shifts that led to the coalescence of the #MeToo movement in 2016. Kleon bluntly states that the behavior of those dubbed “tortured” is “for the superhuman and those who want to die young” (119).