@myshunosun — one of the amazing creators whose CC lives in so many of our games — wrote something on Patreon that’s been sitting with me:
“I want to feel like I’m in charge of my own creativity. I have paused many projects due to fear of not meeting (someone’s, algorithm’s?) expectations.”
Wow. How many of us have dreamed up a project, staged it, edited it, loved it… only to abandon it because the post “flopped”? Because the absence of notes or reblogs made it feel like rejection?
And how many who do get traction start feeling trapped by it — shelving ideas, cutting them off entirely, just to keep feeding what people already like? That popularity should feel like vindication but instead it becomes a chore? Obligation? That’s the razor-thin line every creative walks.
I’ve lost a few moots I adored this past year. You can tell when someone starts feeling like they’re not talented enough, or not “in” enough. The posts dwindle. The breaks grow longer. One day there’s an announcement or maybe everything is gone. It’s disheartening.
So if you’re a creator — in any sense — please don’t stop sharing you. I’m not going to feed you platitudes about how “someone out there needs it” or “you’re wonderful” because I don’t know that (yet?).
What I do know: it’s scary as hell to yell into the dark and never hear an echo. But if you’re going to be out here anyway, you might as well fucking roar.
