Why I'm Re-learning Writing

As a kid, the grownups sometimes told me I was good at drawing. And I always though, "No, I'm just good at seeing." I stopped making art for decades because growing up rarely includes the freedom to be wildly creative.

In the past weeks, I’ve been soaking up a lot of video tutorials by wildlife artists, and what I've learned changed my way I think about creative writing. A visual artists rarely paints a complex piece in one go. They start with base layers and values, then add details in small sections. They paint a bird feather by feather.

And I find this to be a surprising difference to indie author culture, where the consensus is: write every day to produce books, monetize every minute of your productivity to make a living.

Here’s the problem with that approach: AI is taking over content production.

In answer to the flood of AI-generated books, Amazon KDP imposed a limit to "ensure quality:” Indie authors can’t publish more than three books a day. Every day.

To compete with that, I'd have to vomit a book a day.

Sorry. Not happening.

I don’t think so.

I believe we are so afraid to make shitty art that we’re more comfortable asking AI to make “art” for us. I did it, too. But every professional artist you admire will tell you they have piles upon piles of shitty art in a dusty corner of their studio/office/laptop, because no one is a machine. We're all just people winging it and trying to find joy in life.

When we were two, three, four years old, we danced, sang, told stories, painted pictures. It was pure joy, and it was messy. Then came school. Measure up! Be serious! Produce result! Grow up! Get a job! Build a career! And thirty, forty years later, we've forgotten what unbridled joy feels like.

We say "dance like no one is watching." But what if we're allowed to dance like dorks with everyone watching, and make shitty art without seriousness, without measuring up to anything or anyone?

That’s one of the main reasons I built our community platform. Until now, we’ve been paid-only. That felt like asking people to marry us before we'd even had coffee together. But we want to make shitty art together with lots of friendly weirdos.

So we finally unlocked the door. You can now wander in for free and discuss books and life in our Prose & Pastries Café and join our silent create-alongs that run 24/7.

If you want more, there is of course a lot of it, including snail mail, workshops, art & writing, and live hangouts:

(Already have a Backstage pass but lost your community link? Hit reply.)

Generic advice never worked on me, but watching the actual sausage-making absolutely does. Decisions, trade-offs, mistakes, revisions. Where ideas come from and how to get them even if the brain isn’t braining.

If I build live workshops, which of these would you actually want?

If you have ideas I haven't thought of, hit reply. Our first workshops drops this month.

We’re spending the winter on Tenerife and it feels like Scandinavian summer. While the locals wear hats and down jackets, we’re in T-Shirts and sandals, which instantly identifies us as tourists.

Do we plan to stay here? No. Too many people, too little solitude (zero, actually). We’re craving open space and wild nature. Plus, the gentrification and environmental problems don’t get any better if we throw ourselves into the mix.

So what comes after? We’re eyeing Lisbon for April/May and then the remote inner regions of Portugal. If you’re anywhere near, let me know and we can have a coffee or wine together!

Until next time,