Letter #30: A Note to Creators

Hello dear readers,

I hope you’ve had a good week!

Among all the other things floating around my brain this week, the following thoughts have really solidified in the past few days.

I scrawled this down on some scrap paper the other night (though I’ve lightly edited for clarity):

I’ve recently been thinking how interesting, how inspiring, and how much of a privilege it is to encounter people on their own journeys.

By that, I’m referring, in particular, to the creators I read, watch, and listen to. Everyone in the audience reaches that creator (be they an artist, writer, singer, podcaster, YouTuber, streamer, etc.) at different times in both the viewer/listener and the creator’s life.

For example, I stumbled upon Ariel Bissett’s YouTube channel after she’d begun her renovation videos of her old house, well after she’d already been on the scene for years. I fell into Dracula Daily emails well after they had begun. I happened upon Potterless podcast when it was well past covering the last Potter book, just about a month before The Newest Olympian pod was announced. I started TNO right at the start (it’s one of the few things I can say that for!).

This is one of the neat things I love about creating in general on the Internet.

You can find a new creator, writer, YouTuber, artist, streamer, or singer one day and go through an entire back catalogue/archive of their great work! You can find your newest hobby or craft, learn new hair styles, find inspiration in new art styles or home décor, get reading recommendations, hear new takes from new people, learn about new foods and recipes, and so much more!

As I’ve said before, the Internet is not all good. In fact, there can be some really terrible things here, as I’m sure you’re well aware.

But the Internet also opens the world up─ getting to read, watch, see, and listen to new (to me!) creators has made me arguably a better, more educated, nuanced, and understanding person. Because I have found new ideas, new insight. I have gained a better understanding of people who are different from me, and in turn, a better understanding of the world. I’ve seen more areas in which I have room to grow, to better understand, to learn, to try.

And for that, I thank every writer, YouTuber, artist, podcaster, singer, streamer, etc. I’ve ever listened to or read or watched.

This absolutely includes all the many wonderful writers on Substack here, some of whom may even be reading this!

You truly inspire me; it is both a joy and privilege to read your work each time I open my emails!

Thank you for being you! :)

Being someone who has really only lived in the age of the Internet also means that this is the main way I’ve experienced content creation, so I’m curious what people who have lived before we really interacted with the Internet may think of this topic. Any thoughts?

Do you have any creators you’d like to shout out in the comments? Please do; I love finding new people! :)

Related-ish Reading/Viewing:

• This post about Substack and “the newsletter economy”

• The later half of this Super Eyepatch Wolf video goes into his journey as a creator in a really moving way

• Abby Cox’s video about the journey (and emotional rollercoaster) of going viral

Hope you have a day as wonderful as you are!

Warmest wishes,

Quote of the Week:

“The precise role of the artist, then, is to illuminate that darkness, blaze roads through that vast forest, so that we will not, in all our doing, lose sight of its purpose, which is, after all, to make the world a more human dwelling place.”

-James Baldwin

Works Cited (MLA 9th):

Popova, Maria. “James Baldwin on the Creative Process and the Artist's Responsibility to Society.” The Marginalian, 5 July 2021, https://www.themarginalian.org/2014/08/20/james-baldwin-the-creative-process/.