(or, What Would David Bowie Do?)
(or, or, I’m Ch-Ch-Changing My Prices, Among Other Things!)
I recall a moment a few years back, sitting in a hotel suite and jabbering with a bunch of writers. Somewhere along the way, I said that I thought living the life of a creative meant moving along from place to place—project to project—without worrying too much whether you were successful with it. I likened it to being a shark. A creative is always on the move, often recreating themselves while trying new things.
I still think that’s right.
At least, that’s the feeling I get from a lot of the people I try to emulate.
I’m not always very good at this emulation, but I think along those lines and, in the tougher moments where my brain is getting in my way, I use their examples as motivational tools. You know? Like asking myself…What Would David Bowie do?
There exist people who are just so comfortable in their skins as artists that you can’t imagine them not doing whatever interesting turn it is that they chose to pursue. It comes off as this sense of confidence as they give forward momentum to their lives. As Brigid (my daughter) might say, they just make their cool stuff and then show people their cool stuff as if it is the most natural thing in the world, then move on—as if they don’t really care if you like it or not, right?
As if they’re not doing it for you.
Which is true, I think.
The best artists are doing what they want to do. They are making their cool thing because they love the cool thing. Though, of course, they would rather you liked that cool thing they’ve made—or at least paid it some attention, because, um, that’s the point of doing “art.”
Aside–in my mind, for there to be “art,” there must be an observer, and it’s best if the observer is someone beyond the person who made the work. I may well be making this cool thing simply for my personal entertainment, but I’m not dense. It’s also done with the idea that if I like it, there will be others.
Anyway…
I’m thinking about that today because I’m still in the middle of ramping back up into the same state that I was in back on the night of that conversation—meaning that (at least in my mind) I’m getting more comfortable with making decisions and then doing the things I decide would be good things to do rather than procrastinating and thinking “hey, that would be great, I’ll do that whenever I get around to it.”
This is a thing that enables the sharkdom, right?
I want to be smart about prioritizing things, hence avoiding becoming overwhelmed, but once I think something is a good idea to pursue, I want to try it as early as possible.
As an outside example, today I recently bumped into Nicholas Kotar and learned he’s doing an interesting thing. It’s a thing that wouldn’t have struck me to ever do, but he wanted to pursue it, so now he’s trying it. What is that thing? Well, I know Nicholas as a writer. But now he’s decided he wants to help give other writers a platform, so he’s working as a publisher, running a series of Kickstarters designed to push other writers. He explained a bit about his business structure, and it seems workable … though, again, pointed in a direction (publishing others) I’m not personally interested in pursuing. He said he just wanted to do it, so he’s trying it out.
Which is cool.
Very sharky, right?
I should note that the Kickstarters he’s been running appear to have been more than a little successful so far. Will the idea work long-term? I have no idea.
But it fits the model of: “I want to do it, why not try it out?”
You can see his latest effort here. It’s an interesting project, and the books look fantastic.
So, What Does This Mean to Me (and You)?
In that light, I’ve been so happy with my foray into Patreon. (Thank you sooooooo much!). I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate your support.
I’m finding it a little taxing, however, to keep both a blog presence and a Patreon presence, so after a period of thinking “hey, I’d like to do something about that,” I’ve decided to actually do something about it. Bottom line is this: I’m lowering the prices of every tier. What was once my $3/month tire, for example, will now cost $1. The $5 tier will drop to $3, and so on, down the line. The perks will stay the same. What’s also changing, though, is that I’m planning to flow at least some of what I write here to my blog—generally a week later. I expect some of what I do here will stay here (particularly things that will eventually turn into books), but a lot of the general-purpose material will flow out to the public. Being a patron, you will get the majority of my work before anyone else does.
Thinking about this makes me happy.
On the scale of “earthshattering decisions of an artist,” maybe this measures .002 on a much larger scale. I have a lot of things I’m working on that are a lot bigger deals. But simply the idea made me feel good, and making it happen now makes me feel good. It saves you a few bucks and saves me a bit of the pressure that I can put on myself to keep two places thriving, thereby reducing my creative stress. With luck, as long as you’re still enjoying this little space and still enjoying supporting me, things will all work out.
Sounds like a win to me.
So, yeah. That’s what I’m doing from here out.
Will it last forever?
Probably not. At least not if I fulfill my whole creative goal of being a bit sharky (which in this context just means being, hopefully, both sharp in identifying changes that make sense to me, and nimble in making them happen). This, too, could change.
So, there’s the deal.
If you would like to keep supporting me at the same level you are currently supporting me (which, thanks if you do!), then you can do so by increasing your tier. Otherwise, you should see your monthly charge drop at whatever the right time is.
Once again, thanks for your support.
Feel free to drop me a line if you’ve got any concerns or thoughts!
I am a human. Not an AI. You can tell because keep a Patreon page where I talk about writing and being a writer (among other things). In other words, I post there first. I also share occasional work in progress for Patrons only. If you’d like to support me–or just this blog–you can do so there.
