I find myself often in this conflict between catering to an audience and following my inner voice, and they usually take one of two forms: 1) a perfectionist tendency to delay publishing anything until it gains enough complexity; 2) a fear of writing stuff that are in stark contrast to the persona I usually present to friends and family, which compose most of my subscribers. Worse, if I can’t expect to publish sth new, I lose the motivation to write it down in the first place.
To that point, I really like how you chose the word “illegible” together with “searching, creative”. In a similar vein, a friend who’s learning poetry recently suggested that I allow space for myself to “get messy”in order to create anything novel. It’s a reminder that good work could look completely hopeless in the early stages, so don’t be disheartened too early. This applies to other creative tasks as well - the first drafts of designs looking offtrack, the earliest stages of companies seeming like dorm room projects, etc.
But how can one allow themselves to create messy work? My friend suggested that the process should look a lot more like “play” instead of “work”. “Go on dates with your inner child.” She told me, “it’s important to keep it fun.” To find an audience that supports one’s continual unfolding, one can start by being one for themselves, by staying in the moment instead of fixating on others’ expectations.
Pick an audience that likes the illegible you of today, not your past achievements
Thanks for sharing! Lots of good insights.
I find myself often in this conflict between catering to an audience and following my inner voice, and they usually take one of two forms: 1) a perfectionist tendency to delay publishing anything until it gains enough complexity; 2) a fear of writing stuff that are in stark contrast to the persona I usually present to friends and family, which compose most of my subscribers. Worse, if I can’t expect to publish sth new, I lose the motivation to write it down in the first place.
To that point, I really like how you chose the word “illegible” together with “searching, creative”. In a similar vein, a friend who’s learning poetry recently suggested that I allow space for myself to “get messy”in order to create anything novel. It’s a reminder that good work could look completely hopeless in the early stages, so don’t be disheartened too early. This applies to other creative tasks as well - the first drafts of designs looking offtrack, the earliest stages of companies seeming like dorm room projects, etc.
But how can one allow themselves to create messy work? My friend suggested that the process should look a lot more like “play” instead of “work”. “Go on dates with your inner child.” She told me, “it’s important to keep it fun.” To find an audience that supports one’s continual unfolding, one can start by being one for themselves, by staying in the moment instead of fixating on others’ expectations.