Category: WritingCategory: Writing

We talked about this in yesterday’s Escape Pod Zoom call (next one is Sunday at 10am ET), about making videos to showcase our work.

This doesn’t have to mean making dance videos, or shouting directly into the camera, either. Check out the work of Noah Kalina, Taylor Pendleton, Softer Sounds, and ISETTA FILM, and see how they tell stories in their own unique way.

And when I say make a video, I don’t mean produce a fully-featured clip and upload it to YouTube. Set up your smart phone, or turn on your web cam, or make some voice notes talking the thing you do. Do this today. Tomorrow. This will help you when you get interviewed about your work, or someone asks you about your art at the local coffee shop.

Practice talking about your stuff.

“Once I started trying to anticipate what other people would want, I lost my point of view,” says menswear designer Aaron Levine.

Don’t get caught up in how a newsletter to your fans is supposed to look. Don’t assume your fans want something short and sweet, or long and drawn out. You don’t make your art thinking about the audience, so don’t write and share your art in a way that forces you into form that is not your own.

This from ‘MTV Cancels Itself‘ by kd:

MTV didn’t ask me what I wanted to watch. It told me what I would watch.

When you go to someone’s blog, that first post says “this is where we’re starting today.”

Just like MTV, as kd says, the writer didn’t ask what you wanted to watch or listen to, the writer told you.

When a musician gets on stage they don’t run a poll, they’ve made a set list.

When you walk into a record shop, no one asks what you want to hear. Just like MTV, the choice has already been made.

Pick, choose, lead. You’re allowed to say, “I’m going this way, come along if you want.”

I’ve learned over two decades of writing online is that the half-way okay blog post becomes a foundation not just for better blog posts, but for better conversations.

The ideas keep coming so we must keep writing.
We become tuned to the frequencies that expand these ideas.

An example; I went out for a donut and iced coffee, and had a conversation with the shop owner which becomes a blog post.

I’ve written probably 100 posts since then, which led to more conversations, a cycle that adds seasoning and fresh ingredients to the next blog post or newsletter, which can’t help but bubble up in conversation because I’m living and breathing this subject matter.

Then, what I’ve found, is taking these conversations into new spaces of varying discomfort bolsters the ideas.

Talking with a friend is safe, but things feel different on a group Zoom call with people you don’t know, or on a podcast, or on a panel in front of 30 people.

I’ve been writing about ditching social media for years. Then I started hosting weekly Zoom calls with readers back in 2023, joined other online community calls, did live stream interviews, and appeared on a handful of podcasts.

Then I did something even more uncomfortable by setting up at punk rock flea market and talking with people face to face about leaving social media.

These conversations, in varying “live” settings, sharpened my ideas and my ability to express them.

This is how Cory Doctorow can riff about horrible corporations for over an hour and make it look easy.

We can all do this if we stop spending five hours a day on our phones.

We lose in followers, but we gain by honing our craft, finding our unique ways to express the ideas and concepts that will resonate with the right people.

Maria Popova started Brain Pickings “in 2006 as an email to seven friends.”

The left sidebar is titled “donating = loving,” and goes on to say “If you find any joy, solace, and inspiration here, please consider a donation.”

No tiers, no levels, no free tote bag, no bonus content.

In a recent Zoom call, Shelley told a story about going to the book store, and a kind stranger giving her quarters to buy the kids some books, to which she initially refused. She eventually took the coins, and her daughter told her afterwards, “don’t ever refuse prosperity.”

If we don’t give our readers a chance to donate, we are literally refusing prosperity.

Set up a Buy Me a Coffee account, and Ko-Fi, and a Patreon – why not? Lots of people use different services. To get the ball rolling, let people give you money in a way that’s comfortable for them.

Remind them of their options, send them links on occasion, subtle reminders.

There are people who want to support the work you do in its present form, without extra content or behind the scenes material.

If you enjoy my work, you can buy me a coffee via Ko-Fi, PayPal, Cash App, and Venmo. You can also become a Social Media Escape Club Member here, and buy my HUNTERTHEN music here.