You are an experience. A person who is multifaceted. Who is more than “a brand.” Whose writing and creative work are not just catchy taglines that can be repeated endlessly. You are not a website (even if well designed), and not a social media profile. Of course, you are not how many followers you have.
You are an experience. A human being that creates moments and experiences for those who connect with your writing, creative work, or with you in other ways. These experiences can evoke a wide range of conversations, emotions, and ideas.
On the wall across from my desk I have photos of famous writers, musicians, artists, and performers. When stare at them, I am taking in so much of the experiences they have helped create for others. People try to define each of these people with a simple title, but each is so much more than that.
If you are an author hoping to find clarity in what you create and engage an audience of like minded readers in the process, please keep reading.
Before we begin, two announcements:
- I invite you to join me for a free workshop on Friday January 17th at 12:30pm ET: Creative Clarity: Find More Time, Get More Done, and Live with More Confidence. You can register here.
- I’m relaunching one of the most powerful things I have ever offered: The Creative Shift Mastermind! This is a three-month program where you join me and a group of other writers and creators to establish rock-solid creative habits, define your creative identity, and get radically clear on your priorities of what to work on and why. I’ll share more about it next week, but you get an early look here! This will be a pretty small group, so join the early interest list if you are interested.
Okay, let’s dig into today’s topic…
You Are Not a Brand
When it comes to how you present yourself and your writing and creative work online, I see so much talk about one’s “author brand.” But you aren’t a brand. You are a human being. You are multifaceted. You are evolving.
Resist the urge to whittle down who you are in order to squeeze into some concise little box. This is why I so often encourage you to avoid “best practices.” Not because they can’t be instructive in some basic manner, but because sometimes they encourage us to be just like everyone else. Sure, we “fit in,” but in the process, our volume is lowered, and our creative work doesn’t shine or stand out.
For how people see you online, you are more than a catchy tagline, and more than a single profile image that you may have been using for years and years.
If you hope to engage others around what you create and why, lean into all the ways you are unique. Into how engaging with you is an experience.
Seek out Radical Clarity
Nowadays we have so many options for what to create, how to share, and ways of potentially reaching your ideal readers. That is wonderful, but can also be completely overwhelming. This is why I encourage you to seek out deep clarity to focus your attention.
So many writers and creators have trouble talking about what they create or why they create it. Too often, the result is that they avoid the discussion entirely. I think that many writers both dream of — and are terrified of — someone asking:
“So, tell me about your writing!”
It can be easy to get comfortable sticking with a simple catchy tagline to describe what you create. After awhile, we keep using it because it’s clever and it seems to encapsulate so many things very quickly. But what if your work has expanded, or if you feel you want to work on a pretty wide range of possible projects: literary fiction, memoir, children’s literature, and so much else?
So often writers tell me they don’t know what to work on first, and they can’t figure out how it all fits together. So they think they need multiple websites and newsletters to bifurcate these parts of themselves, and try to attract different audiences.
But this is where “you are an experience” becomes so important. Having multiple projects and working across genres or art forms or styles is a benefit, not a problem.
What I worry most about is someone not writing and not sharing. There is so much inside each of us, and I think the world is a better place when this is shared.
Getting radically clear about the experiences you want to have around your writing or creative work means getting super specific. This means moving beyond a vague sense of what it is, or using a simple feel-good line about your goals. Instead, I want you to focus your finite resources of energy/time/attention to all work towards the experiences that matter most to you, and your ideal readers
(A great starting point for this discussion is my free event next week: Creative Clarity: Find More Time, Get More Done, and Live with More Confidence. You can register here.)
You Have Agency
With so much changing online, it is easy to feel that you have zero control. That you can’t have a sense of ownership or be unique, because everything is controlled by big tech or algorithms. But you do have agency to do what feels right to you, and connect with other like-minded people in a meaningful way.
Last year I was reading a memoir and a quote within it stopped me in my tracks. The book was It’s So Easy: and Other Lies, by Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan. There is a point in the book where his life is falling apart. Amidst this, he showed up to a kickboxing lesson from a legend in the field, Sensei Benny “The Jet” Urquidez. Earlier in the day, Duff got some very bad news, and Benny sensed something was wrong. Without asking details, he paused the lesson and said to Duff:
“Sometimes we have to face things, face people, face situations in life that we don’t like to deal with. It can feel like everybody is out to get you. That is when you have to refuse to succumb. Make people realize that you are a force. But you also have to give and take in these situations.”
Benny’s words are so powerful. As a writer, you may feel that your are lost amidst difficult waters in how to write, how to publish, and how to share. You may worry that the market is changing, that you can’t get an agent or publisher, or that you can’t reach your readers. Maybe you read some news about a social network that really upset you, and now avenues that seemed open before, now feel closed. It’s so easy to stop. To bemoan how things used to be easier years ago. But Benny’s words ring true in this context:
“That is when you have to refuse to succumb. Make people realize that you are a force.”
Who you are is unique, as is what you are writing or creating. Any partner that you collaborate with will be fortunate to work with you. Your words will one day move a reader in a deep and profound way, or give them a respite in a moment when they truly need it. You and your work matter.
Find a way to share that feels authentic to who you are. That focuses on meaningful connections and experiences. This is where I appreciate what Benny adds to the end: “But you also have to give and take in these situations.” This is not about being aggressive or over the top, and it is not about waiting for a perfect situation.
If you feel that every social media network is flawed and you can’t share online, fine! You still have options and agency.
In the 1990s I created my own printed fanzine. Basically, this was a magazine about music that I made on my computer, then made photocopies of and mailed or delivered to people. This took a ridiculous amount of time to create. It took a lot of money to print at a time when I earned minimum wage. It took lots of time on my bicycle (I didn’t have a car) to deliver them. But I found a way to write and share that resonated with what mattered to me. This is me at the time, with an issue being put together on my bed:
Even today, if you want to share, you can print and mail a zine, or you can send letters, text message people, organize meetups, have phone calls, do Zoom events, create a private community, and so much else. Each of these avenues are different kinds of experiences, and none of them require you to turn down your volume.
My hope is that you write and create what matters to you. That you publish in a manner that feels accessible. That you share your work with people in a meaningful way that create experiences that you remember.
Please let me know the know in the comments: what kinds of experiences inspire you? Tell me about a writer/artist/musician/performer/creator who helped create an experience that you were a part of that you always remembered. (A concert is an easy answer here, but it could be so many things.) What was it that made it so special?
For, my paid subscribers this week, I shared a mini-case study on how to get engagement online by focusing on feelings, not just topics. You can see a preview and become a paid subscriber here.
And a reminder to join me for:
- My free workshop on Friday January 17th at 12:30pm ET: Creative Clarity: Find More Time, Get More Done, and Live with More Confidence. You can register here.
- The Creative Shift Mastermind! Full details here.
Thank you for being here with me.
-Dan