Writers have more dragons
Happy Friday,
Yesterday I ran across a writer who created a “magazine” right here on Substack and it was a beautiful thing to see. I mean — not literally. lol.
Honestly, it wasn’t great, visually.
Plus, the writing was a bit dry for my taste. Like reading Wikipedia, which is no one’s idea of a good time except maybe the editors.
But still. My first thought was wow, I’d love to do that. I’d love to have a visually beautiful publication that ties everything together so neatly and cohesively.
Then I laughed.
Good luck! I write on so many topics, I couldn’t cobble my writing into a magazine if my life depended on it. I have too many interests. I am too disorganized.
And then I stopped.
Disorganized?
Where’d that come from?
My clients tell me I’m the most organized person they’ve ever worked with. They regularly thank me for keeping them organized. And I do. I know that.
So what’s up with my own work?
Hello, dragon.
We all have dragons, and I suspect writers have more than most people.
All you have to do is hang out at Medium or any other site where writers congregate and you can see that writers have more dragons than average folk.
Average folk work their day job, live their life and watch Netflix until bedtime. They they get up to rinse, repeat. They have dragons, too. Existential ones, usually.
But writers? Hoo boy.
First, there’s the dragons about the words themselves.
The most common dragons are the ones that say things like “they won’t like you” and “they don’t care,” as if the world is made of one collective “they” who approve or disapprove of your writing.
Once you get past those dragons, there are bigger dragons about getting said words out into the world. Some of the loudest and most obnoxious dragons live in the realm of marketing. I know, because I work there. :)
Strikes me that life is like a fantasy game
You know how dragons work in a fantasy game, right? You vanquish the dragon and a new door opens up.
The door behind the dragon always goes somewhere good. Always. To a new treasure you can collect or a new level. Dragons always guard the good stuff.
Talk about art imitating life.
When you see and tame your own dragons, it usually goes somewhere good, too.
Except, in real life, it’s harder to see the dragons.
Know why? Because they hide behind our beliefs.
I’m curious. What’s your dragon?
xo,
Linda
P.S. If you are reading this in email, you can click the title to go to the online version, where you can leave a comment.
My dragon is that I, like you, have too many specific interests. However, I also have three Substack newsletters lol. That's the easiest way I could figure out how to separate my brain into coherent sections.
I only get one? I think I have several with one of them ready to 'light me up' with little or no warning. Thus the asbestos shorts. :-) Have a great weekend!