Try To Start Something New

A new year has become a time to “begin again”, to start new habits, break old ones, become the person we want to be. Success rates vary, of course, but the effort is worthwhile, even if you fall short of perfection. For my creative life this year, I will work NOT to be like too many people I see in creative communities.

The toxic ones.

I’m hoping you will say, “But Jay, you’re not one of the toxic ones, so isn’t this a bit too easy?” For the compliment, I am grateful. But for this year, I will try for something a little more than simply not being a “bad person”. I’m going to try actively to be a positive force in the communities where I belong.

Over the last several years, I’ve joined several creative forums on social media. These groups have both positive and negative aspects, but there’s one thing that always amazes me. In a group dedicated to some kind of creativity (let me be honest, I see this way too often in my writing communities), there is a group of members who can be relied upon to offer some negativity. Not constructive criticism, just flat out “You are wasting your time” negativity.

Being creative is hard enough. For many members, these communities are places to get away from this kind of thinking. I’m appalled when I see creatives doing it to other creatives.

Let me give you a few real life examples.

Someone announces that they write poetry, are excited about joining the group, and wonder if there are any other poets here. Does anyone have any ideas about selling poetry or publishing a collection? They were met with a blunt “Why bother? No one buys poetry.” I have two objections here. First, how is this helpful? If you can’t answer the questions, why is it necessary to jump in with a comment? Why is it necessary to dump on someone’s joy? There is nothing useful in that comment. Second, it’s not actually true. While poetry doesn’t sell as well as fiction or non-fiction, poetry sales rose dramatically over the last 5+ years. Our Millennial friends and younger seem to be the driving force in this, and I applaud them. So, the comment is both intellectually false, and factually false.

There’s a similar response for prose that comes up regularly. It notes the number of writers who publish versus the ones who make any money. “Why bother?” is the refrain again. Why bother? Because you believe in your work, because it’s part of the dream, because we live in the golden age of independent publishing. And because making money isn’t the only standard for success. Over the course of my creative life, I’ve grown ever more suspicious of people who want to judge creative success by dollar signs. Van Gogh died a pauper, his genius unrecognized for the most of his life. One author whose work I reviewed last year, Zora Neal Thurston, had some initial success, but soon slid into neglect. It took decades for the genius of her work to be recognized. The list is long of creatives who never achieved financial success in their lives, only to be discovered later.

Like most of us, I would LOVE to make some money from my work. A little would be nice, a lot would be great. Being recognized only after you die isn’t a goal most of us have as an aim. I’d love to be rich and famous now, AND after I die. My goal is for people to read my stories and enjoy them. And to share them with their family and friends.

Being creative is hard. It’s an ongoing struggle for me. I see no reason to make it harder for the rest of you. So, my goal for this year is to do what I can to make my creative communities more encouraging places. To offer positive ways to deal with issues presented. To never be a reason someone thinks about quitting.

To make our worlds a little less toxic.

I hope you’ll consider joining me too.

Peace,

Jay