Is Writing a Dead End? by LA Bourgeois
Let’s welcome back LA Bourgeois as she shares with us “Is Writing a Dead End?” Enjoy!
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The publishing and writing world is a bit bleak these days.
Strikes and layoffs of writers, AI gaining ground, and the big publishers merging into one ginormous entity. With all of this bad news, you might be starting to give up hope for your creative work.
But, as these things occur in the larger zeitgeist, one thing that I always notice is the scrappy small independents taking this opportunity to expand their reach.
Creative people always think differently and find a way to survive.
It’s like the smaller plants that grow underneath the canopy of a forest.
Saplings, shrubs, wildflowers and mushrooms all making their little worlds on the floor underneath.
When the largest tree inevitably falls to the ground, the sun breaks through the canopy. Those smaller beings grow and flourish.
Eventually one of those saplings matures, taking that old tree’s place. The process starts again.
Even if a wildfire destroys everything we could see above the ground, seeds and roots remain below the surface to emerge and begin again. Several types of pine trees only reproduce after fire releases their seeds.
The underbrush in the writing world contains independent publishing houses and university presses, online & print magazines and newspapers, and the rising respect for self-published authors as well as an industry built to support them.
And it contains readers. Multitudes of readers, in all languages and habitats. All waiting for that special book or article from an author they haven’t discovered yet.
All of this is to say, don’t give up hope because of bad news. People elevate the bad, shouting it from the rooftops.
For years people have said that movies would kill theater, and then television would kill the movies. And yet all of these mediums have survived.
Books have been part of our culture for centuries, and people just keep reading. Audiobooks exist because people couldn’t do without reading even if they couldn’t see!
So keep writing. Keep working on those books and articles and short stories and poems.
And when the bad news gets to be too much, turn off the television or that social media app. Pick up a book, remind yourself what it means to be a reader, and feel the hope seep into your bones again.
P.S. If you need more encouragement, try checking out Litsy, a Facebook-like app for readers. Their enthusiasm for the written word in all its forms can also spark your hope and inspire you to begin writing again.
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ABOUT LA BOURGEOIS
LA (as in tra-la-la) Bourgeois is a Kaizen-Muse Certified Creativity Coach and author who helps clients embrace the joy of their creative work and thrive while doing it.
Get more of her creativity ideas and techniques by subscribing to her newsletter at https://subscribepage.io/unlockyourcreativity.
