Article Hopping

Every once in a while I flick around through articles on writing, a little ritual I enjoy from time to time. I'm never expecting an epiphany, but I do tend to notice thought trends. What can I agree or disagree with, what can I test or try. You've probably hit on a few of these because it's super tempting to write on a point you've read and dissect it for yourself. Annnnd that's what I'm about to do.

Read a lot, write a lot= better writer. It used to be an insistence to study the 'masters' for what you wish to write. However, it's becoming more and more noticed that those masters don't actually need to be novelists or  bloggers or those obvious choices.The general consensus is now leaning towards the idea that you must be a conscious consumer. Take note of the structure of shows and movies that move and interest you. Find the best way to take the product of a writer and translate it into what works best in the reading/writing experience. Be mindful of the medium you are working in, be mindful of how OTHER things influence them. I would never aim to divert writers from supporting writers by reading books, but only be aware that to hook certain readers, sometimes you might need to be 'more' than a novelist.

Patience is a buzz word lately. One article talked about how so many creatives' dreams involves the Big Break. That the length of our patience is often dictated by how long we are willing to wait for that magic moment. There are a lot of angles around this one: writers offering the 'hard truth' that not everyone 'makes it' or else everyone would do it. Some just offer the optimism that as long as you love what you do, a Big Break is only a bonus to the joy of doing it. I don't know about you but I'm mixed on this one. Do we ever do anything purely out of passion? Are we really okay with being a tragic story of failure when it never pans out? Some days I'm certain I'm doing this because I simply can't imagine not doing it. Some days, I do get a little wistful with the idea of it being a sustainable living. Is it somehow less to not choose one, to kind of sit in the middle of this? One thing I try not to focus on is time. You can't say to yourself "I've been doing it for this long, and nothing, so maybe it's time to quit." If you're truly not enjoying it, even loathing it, I'd agree with you. I've been there with many things I've tried and it never gets better as long as that attitude persists. However, if you're comparing it to the success of others, disabuse yourself of that. It's not a mark of your ability or future success. Can't emphasize enough that, as with most things in life, hard work helps, luck is the big dumb decider. You might have to change tact, on many aspects of your work and marketing, to reach the right people the right way. I wouldn't demean someone else's talent or work, but hey, some people are also hit with a ridiculous stroke of luck.

Consumer vs. Creator. My nephew Thomas actually brought this one up. He lamented that we've reached an age where it's impossible to consume all that you really want to in your lifetime, that you'll have to miss certain things due to the sheer volume and even dedicating yourself to it 24-7 with as much efficiency as possible, you'll miss out on something. (I actually argued that I LOVE this-- that we can learn to be selective, to reward artists that are putting in greater effort rather than just always consume what is widely available or popular.) Creatives often find this balance frustrating though. How much should I consume? How much consuming is procrastination to creation? I've seen many creatives lament that they're playing video games when they should be creating-- but should they? One thing that is apparent is that downtime is important to productivity and that even certain downtime activities align with the sort of processes that actually strengthen our work. So how can we be certain we're doing enough of either? Well, you can't. I can offer my experience with health issues here and say that you can eat all the right things and exercise your ass off and you'll still have fuck-all to show for it. Even when you're sure you're doing enough, sometimes the results or the output just isn't going to be cause to celebrate or congratulate yourself. Sometimes you just have to adjust and know that you're doing what you can. There's a lot of guilt and doubt and self-criticism in creativity and yeah, you might be procrastinating. So do something about it.

And yes! I DO blog to procrastinate! But I also blog as a warm-up to actual writing. It's easy to excuse helpful downtime as 'being lazy' or 'procrastinating' because we're also living in a fucked-up time where people seem to think that bragging about anything other than hard work and misery makes you a shitty human being. Someone else is struggling so how dare you enjoy anything?! Eh, you have to take that in stride too. I mean, people, they're not really all that bad. Some of my favorite parts of life involve some great people. However, even someone you like can slip into societal droning and start to drill you about responsibility and hard work when in truth, you've been biting the bullet about just how hard it is. It's just not trendy for creatives to be brooding and depressed anymore, so we get damn good at making it look easy. Well, yeah. Not a single person is going to be curious about our work if the act of doing it makes us a total shit to be around.

Again, take everything in stride. I've become quite used to writers being supportive one minute then needing to ignore you the next. I don't take it personally because we have to go through phases to grow, not just for our work but for our own doubts, successes and struggles. I don't demand anything-- it's a crazy process. It's my wish to be able to support other writers someday, but I'm also broke and spamming social media on someone else's behalf-- it's not helping either of us. I'll get to that point, not because it's guaranteed, but because I just don't see myself doing anything else. Even if the possibility exists that 20 years from now, I'm still invisible, it just doesn't faze me. I'm proud I'm about to release my tenth book. I'm psyched that my 11th is coming along great. I'm grateful I have five other writing projects to throw words and ideas at and I'm excited that drawing is a part of my body of work too. I spent a pretty miserable decade trying to be an 'adult' but I had no energy to do what I loved. 

If I can add anything more, do this (whatever this is) because you feel alive when you do. If doing anything else is an existence, it's not admirable-- I'm sorry to tell you it's just not. People may not admire you for what they are certain is just 'doodling' or 'journaling' (and all creatives get shit on there, so no, it's not just you), but if you feel good about yourself, you're much more useful to this world than doing the 'right thing' will get you. See, because the 'right thing' is something you ultimately decide. If the right thing for you doesn't match up to what other people think, it's okay as long as you can live with it. It doesn't matter what people think about your situation. It doesn't matter if they think you're lucky or that you should be grateful. It's okay to want more and still enjoy where you are. And I know you don't need my permission, but sometimes you just need someone to say the same things you are. Like a mantra, another voice can lend to self-empowerment. You can still disagree and cherry pick what works for you, of course. Don't know about you, but writing is one place I endeavor to never shut the hell up. Did a lot of that in the past-- won't waste another second doing it in the future.

Okay, maybe a few seconds. For the sake of downtime and creation both.