The job of a content creator is to provide a regular schedule of useful, consistent content. It’s something I’ve clearly struggled with in the last year or so, and aim to improve on this year. However, what I have noticed in many other creators is the ability or perhaps perceived duty to stay uncontroversial. Stay in your lane. Don’t offend your audience for fear of losing business or interest. When I’m on the consumer side of this scenario, this comes off as tone deaf, oblivious, or even insensitive to those most vulnerable in our communities.
As a creator, it feels irresponsible, reckless even, to not acknowledge the impact of current events, especially this past week, on everyone’s (let alone my customer’s) professional, creative, and financial decisions. Your everyday safety and financial stability contingent on a functioning democracy immensely impact your ability to work, let alone be creative.
You’ll hear, over and over again, that’s it’s more important, now more than ever, to be creating. To be writing. To be speaking your mind. To take action. To make art. It’s our lifeblood right now. You might feel a sense of obligation or even guilt tied to this. But you’re probably thinking something like, my very existence as a person is being put into question. My bodily autonomy is being ripped away from me. My life, my friends’ lives, or both could be in serious danger for the next four years. I’m not exactly feeling fucking prolific right now.
That is okay. That is absolutely okay in this Not Okay World we are living in right now.
Persisting some days may look like writing a social media blast to your followers, or reflecting on a moment in your life you want to see published in the world. It may look expressive, articulate, even palatable. Some days it may look like one of mine earlier this week; I called my local representative to request he vote “no” on a bill he’d previously voted “yes” on. But, if we’re being honest, most days it will look like ordering dinner in and watching Netflix; going to your local science museum; watering your virtual plants in an online video game; or simply staying in bed.
Yes, we must keep writing and we must keep making art, and no, we cannot lose momentum. But we cannot get burned out either. We cannot become so overwhelmed by the barrage of bad news and rotten bigots coming out of the woodwork that we hole up with our phones and pets and substances and cry for the next four years. There’s a balance between staying informed, getting involved, and giving ourselves the rest we need to continue that we’re all going to need to figure out individually.
I will continue to roll out blog content this year, starting with discussions about marketing your memoir, a task you can start while you’re still in the process of writing it. Learning how to market our own books, but especially our memoirs, is a space for constant growth. If the recent TikTok outage (remember that?) is any indication, the online marketing landscape is forever in flux. I will be launching a free resource in tandem with this content, so keep an eye out for that as well.
When you’ve done enough resting, resisting, and commiserating, and you are ready to write again, I’ll be here, ready to help.
For more information about my coaching services, please check out my services page or contact me at hanna@hannaetu.com.
Photo by Luis Quintero.
Hanna Etu 