HEY.
So I’ve decided to do a whole ass second but better year end wrap up for my writing shits this year.
First check this shit out in another window. I minor tweet stormed about my work this year.
1. published by @WearYourVoice and greenlit by @Femmefeministe this piece was not what I tried to write and it came out exactly what I wanted. https://t.co/cdAbHJfFWU
— Shannon Barber (@Weebeasty) December 13, 2018
All righty then.
I realized as I was doing those tweets that, this year has been pretty lit.
I was feeling pretty down about the failures of the year. None of my side hustles really worked out.
I made less than 50$ with both Etsy and medium and that really sucks. I mean, it hurts me on so many levels.
That said.
I wrote like a mother fucker and wrote exactly what the fuck I wanted when I wanted. I finally fully divested myself from trying to be a freelance super earner. Like there are literally two editors I will pitch to and dassit.
I learned that finally, I can say I’m okay with being unable to financially sustain my creative life. It sucks but I can’t force folks to do shit.
All I can do is do what I do.
I was really feeling like, all this, all the angst and crying and stress just made me the worst.
I dunno y’all. I may not be able to like, pay bills with the words but fuck I write like a mother fucker regardless.
So what is happening in 2019?
I’m making moves.
Patreon stuff is happening, I’ve got a lot of plans.
I’ve also realized that part of what has freed me to write the way I have been this year is that, I’ve been learning to accept some things that are real for me.
- My obscurity frees me. I have a job that basically sort of pays the bills. So, I don’t have to eat shit when I freelance. I can say no and I have learned to say no. I had a piece that was commissioned and was a pretty good payday. After realizing that the editor and I were quite far apart on what we wanted. I let it go and put it on Medium.
- Speaking of Medium. The other edge of my obscurity is that, regardless of what folks say, 80% of my audience refuses to give my work material support. Folks don’t share, don’t clap on medium etc etc. I don’t know why. Some folks tell me to trust my community to come through and, well frankly most of the time they don’t. It hurts but whatever.
- I AM going to write the shit anyway. I’ve tried to stop but nah son.
- I am allowed to work this out however the fuck I need to.
Those things have led me into some stuff I’m VERY excited about and will share with y’all soon.
Overall 2018 beat the dog shit out of me. I wrote some of my best shit and it was lowkey sorta okay.
NOW. Over at medium behind the paywall but this is the friend link. A lesson on how I learned to write non-fiction.