Things I wish I knew before creating works in a fan space:
- if you write, you might fall into the trap that the metrics on your works matter, and the numbers you didn't care about before on other works are a bar to measure the value of your work
- if you draw, the joy you felt in seeing other artists pump out work daily can turn to dread because you see a standard and have to decide what's more important; your sanity or keeping up
- idnetity is so important that its easy to want to adapt yours just to fit in. And losing yourself in the process feels bad. And seeing rejection of who you in their very loud posts feels worse.
- community is half the reason you're here. But once you put yourself out there making stuff, you're also putting yourself out for inspection by others.
What has helped:
You didn't write or draw for the numbers when you first picked up a pen or tapped at a keyboard.
Hold onto your passion tight and trust that the community who is meant to find it is out there.
Don't hurt yourself reaching for external goals you can't control. If you can't post today, don't apologize for it. Be okay setting realistic expectations for yourself. You're not a creativity machine.