Whenever I want to post content that I find really exciting, almost always I will have a voice inside of me that says:

“Nobody wants to read your ideas. You are nobody. Who would waste 8 minutes of their precious time consuming your content?”  

It can be incredibly challenging, especially when self-sabotage gets in the way. 

What I tell myself during these little panics is that there will always be people who will judge/ criticize you and your work. Be prepared for the bashers and their rude ugly comments. They’re going to hate you and your work so much. But at the same time, someone else out there will be completely in love with you and your work. 

As a creative, our call to create is a call to share. 

This I admit I haven’t learned all the way yet. This is why I write this content to somehow give me that push – to remind myself every day that I have to walk the talk.  

Sharing what I create is, in a way, to give respect to the divine muse who had loaned me the inspiration. The divine muse chose us to be the vessel so we could inspire and give light to others as well. 

I first heard of this divine muse from Elizabeth Gilbert’s book “Big Magic.”

According to her, a muse is an entity or source who serves as an artist’s inspiration. A creative muse is anything that inspires your imagination toward creativity: people, music, movies, books, private thoughts, ideas, or interests. A muse can come in a variety of ways but should make you think, want to act, or create.

• You don’t need credentials to create. 
• You don’t need tons of experience to create. 
• You don’t need to be an expert to create. 

Once the muse chooses you, you must not ignore her, or else she can be very hard to win back. 

We should not just collect these ideas and just save them for later, they will just become stale. Use it to create something new, share with others, and always give back more than you take. Teach what you know and pass on what you have learned. 

PS. If you want followers, be someone worth following. Provide value to the community. 

 

No matter what creative stage you’re at, people would be interested to know and be a part of the creative process. Document it. Use social media platforms and make the public your accountability partner. Others may not care at all and that is fine. This is what I do, most especially in my blogs.

Writing is not my cup of tea, and English is not my first language. Putting up a blog post (even just once a month) already took an immense effort of me. But once I provided a sneak peek of my rough draft in my IG story, I got no choice but to follow up and hit “publish.” – not unless I want to be associated with unreliable content creators who can’t keep their words and can’t finish what they had started.  

Put yourself and your work out there every day so that people who are looking for you, find you! Share some bits and pieces from your creative journey. Once you make yourself visible, you will start meeting some amazing people.  

I like to see it like dating, wherein you make yourself available “single and ready to mingle.” The Universe responds to you and lets you meet and date as many guys as humanly possible. This process will lead to self-discovery that will eventually help you find your One True Love. 

When it comes to our work (or I like to say Our Art), It may not be for everyone’s consumption, and just because you think the majority thinks of it as stupid and nonsense does not mean there is no audience for it.  

Tell the story behind your Art.  

I remember back in college when I won 3rd place in an intercollegiate photography competition in Manila. Whenever I stare at my entry, I knew it was very ordinary. It was just a photo of a bush with a “caution” sign affixed to it… Same with the photo that got me 2nd place for Photography competition in my school La Consolacion College with just a photo of students playing Tug of War – an amateur shot using only a point and shoot camera. Nothing special. 

It was the caption or the story that made my ordinary photo entry to an extraordinary award-winning piece. Charot! 

I am not a good writer, but I know I’m a good storyteller – and everybody loves a good story. 

The stories you tell about your work have a huge effect on how people feel and what they understand about it, and how people feel and what they understand about your work affect how they value it.  

Self Promotion & Making Money out of Art(Work) is not a Crime.

If you don’t make money from your art or have a plan on promoting your work, you will have a hard time supporting your craft. As creators, we have to constantly create in order for us to expand our skills and create more art/ content. You gotta get it out there and let the public know you’re there. There is a distinct difference between promoting your business endeavor and bragging about it.

In my experience, self-promotion can be weird. But it also presents an interesting opportunity: How can you think about your art as a service to others instead of something you just have to do for yourself?

We must work hard to make sure our art and ideas reached the largest audience possible. Again, our call to create is our call to share. If you know and believe that your work is valuable and would help a lot of people, then stop playing small. Claim your space and put yourself and your work out there.

That’s it for today, guyz! Thank you so much for reading this month’s post. Do you have the same painful practice of putting your work out there? Share your thoughts on how we can improve our craft and be discovered hehe. Comment down below ♥