As a writer, I’m influenced by everyone and everything around me. I can’t help it. I write stuff down all the time: things I hear, read, or imagine. Often, I file away these bits of wool to use in future great projects. However, since my four-legged, personal assistant doesn’t possess opposable thumbs (sigh) I tend to forget about my “file-for-future-greatness” projects.
Papers are stuffed in my overflowing inbox; notes are scribbled in journals, typed in web apps like Evernote and Mac Notes, saved in documents on my computer, and captured in my new, productive desktop blog assistant, Mars Edit. Due to my idiosyncratic system, a nugget often pops up weeks, months, or even years later when I’m cleaning my inbox, searching my Mac for a document, or just putting off the semi-annual garden weeding.
So, when I recently read Chris Guillebeau’s “Legacy projects and the love of true friends” post, it sounded like something I had tried to write about before.
What could possibly happen when you open up and share your important work with the world?
- A. You build a fan club of people you’ve never met, from around the world who love your art
- B. Spammers email you crap on Viagra, vitamins and how to make a million bucks
- C. Family refuse to participate in your latest Lady Gaga video spoof at the annual picnic because when you posted last year’s video on YouTube, your Aunt Fanny got “voted off” by your followers
- D. You are plucked from the obscurity of Pittsburgh to become an internet celebrity like Justine Ezarik
- E. No one leaves a comment on your latest brilliant post about “Dog poop”
- F. All of the above
Not everyone you love gets you and your work. And that’s okay. Others will. You’ll find your stride and community. Some people may criticize you, reject what you create, or do nothing. However, you’ll keep plugging away. Drip by drip you’ll share what you do because you were meant for it and you love doing it. It’s called art and it’s worth doing every day.
“If tomorrow morning the sky falls, have clouds for breakfast.” – from the book If You’re Afraid of the Dark, Remember the Night Rainbow, by Cooper Edens.
What do you think?
P.S. Thanks Mom. I love you.
