Lately I've been thinking about blogging.
Social media is . . . whew . . . a lot these days. Everything is algorithm-based and advertising-focused. On its best days, I have trouble finding the people I want to hear from among all the noise. And on its worst . . . well, let's just say I'm spending a lot of time thinking about Germany in the 1930s.
If you run your own creative business, you've probably been told you have to be on social media. And that might be true. There are millions of people on those sites. But even so, that doesn't mean you need to spend the majority of your time there. In fact, you probably shouldn't. Not just for your own mental health, but for your business, too. We've all heard stories of social media accounts being deleted or hacked or banned in an instant. That following you've been building on those accounts is not really yours. It's good to have a place of your own where you can share what you want and don't have to worry about the erratic whims of a billionaire.
I'm not the only one thinking about blogging. I agree with author John Scalzi's post "How to Weave the Artisan Web" that we'd be better off if more people -- especially creative people like you -- were blogging now.
Blogging feels like more work, but is it? Could you share a photo of what you're working on, your latest quest for inspiration, a new tool that you love, or a rant about some art project that went off the rails? Or would you like to join a creative challenge where we all work with the same prompt?
Maybe take some time over the holidays and think about it. If you're a creative type still blogging or thinking about it for 2023, let me know. You don't have to be selling your work. It's also fine to have a blog that's a mix of crafty and personal stories. I'd like to follow you!
I'll share a list here next year so we can all support each other. Sound good?
Thanks for reading!