I hate marketing. I hate the entire notion of marketing, including when someone starts talking about "personal brand" (makes me vomit in my mouth), and when I get random emails from platforms like this or LinkedIn or DreamHost about how I can Optimize! Your! Audience! But more than that, I hate how easily those things creep in to my consciousness on a regular basis. I started a blog about 17 years ago as a way to share my writing with a group of women I'd met at a writing workshop. We all started them (free on Blogger - damn, those days are over) and our only audience was each other. It was a really sweet way to lift each other up, infuse courage and accountability into our writing practices, and stay connected even though we lived in places as far flung as Colorado, Oregon, Washington, New Jersey, and Florida. At the time, I became aware that I was gradually writing with them in mind, like ghosts that were peeking over my shoulder as I sat at the computer, and I wondered how much it altered what I was writing and how - knowing that there was a specific audience. Of course, that's what we're taught in marketing - know thy audience and speak to them and their interests. It's an interesting (frustrating? horrific? annoying?) conundrum for a creative type - to let yourself go in the creating without feeling the gaze of whomever might be consuming your creation. The irony for me is that I know I do some of my best writing when I am NOT pandering to an audience, when I am in fact, completely unaware that anyone else even exists on the planet. When I am in the flow of writing and feeling that energy move through me like a wildfire, that is when I know what I'm saying is Real and will probably get the best reviews. It is a strange thing to know that you have something important/incredible/gorgeous to say (paint, sing, share with the world) and simultaneously know that it will *need* to be commodified in order for you to share it. Of course, we all need to pay the rent and buy the food and make money to live, and yet it feels awful to me to have an idea for something I want to share and immediately have that idea followed up (chased, even) by the wondering of how to promote it on social media and what to charge for it. I hate it. If you read the previous newsletter, you know that I've been working to create a new way of talking about what I do (still haven't found the name yet, but I'm toying with Path to Belonging or Bridges to Belonging or something of the sort - feel free to weigh in by responding to this in email and let me know what you think), and as part of that, I've been meeting with a business advisor. They are provided as a free service through a non-profit that works with women and minority owned businesses and I'm very grateful for their help, although our conversations are mostly about how I can do my work with as little marketing as possible, and the advisor is a bit confused, albeit open to my ramblings. The truth is, I want my work to build community, to spark conversation, to provide more opportunities for ease and joy and peace, and the capitalist machine feels completely antithetical to that. So how do I work within that framework while actively working against that framework? I guess I'm doing it, but it still feels like swimming uphill. We are firmly in the middle of what I am calling the Attention Revolution (like the Industrial Revolution, but with all the work going to capture our attention - Netflix, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, on-demand TV, etc. etc.). Our time and attention have been commodified and are being used to make money and consolidate power. My email inbox is full of thinly veiled advertisements from companies adjacent to a company I once purchased one thing from. Every time I post a comment on a friend's Substack, I am automatically signed up to receive four other substack 'suggestions' that appear unbidden in my email. I spend more time unsubscribing to emails from people trying to sell me something than I do responding to actual emails every single morning. And yet, I have work to do that I believe is important and will create community, and I have to let folks know about it somehow. So while this particular newsletter won't contain any links to any new offerings, I will at some point share my calendar with you for the remainder of the year, detailing the workshops and offerings I've put together. What I want you to know is that it will be done in the spirit of information, not marketing. If there is something in there that speaks to you or that you think might speak to others, please sign up or share, but know that my intent is not to sell you something. My intent is to share what I know with you in a way that honors the value of your time and energy and attention and enhances your life. I never want my work to feel extractive or create scarcity in another key part of your life. |
I ran into my neighbor this morning and she let me know that she had a hard time signing up for the BuyMeACoffee offering for the memoir. If you're having trouble, please let me know and I can try to troubleshoot (although me + technology are not super tight, so I'll do my best). In case you need the link again it's here https://buymeacoffee.com/kario and to clarify, you can either start reading on Monday and see how you feel, buy me a coffee for any amount you want just once (prices are...
and probably find out. But since I'm no stranger to doing things the non-traditional way, I'm getting more and more comfortable with it. Here's the thing: I'm a storyteller (just ask my kids, they'll roll their eyes and agree wholeheartedly). I am not a marketer. I am not a hustler. I am not a fan of capitalism. I am the author of three books of my own and I am incredibly proud of them all, to be certain. I am also tremendously grateful to the organizations that published those books, and......
A calendar designed by Wouterus Gruijters to be the simplest possible while retaining weeks and months. More than one meton cycle is included to allow lunar cycle referencing. The widely used Gregorian calendar is included for cross referencing as are the New Years Days from various other calendars. I'm a little alarmed that somehow it is nearly mid-June, but super grateful to have gotten some things on my calendar for the remainder of the year. I am still mired in the creation of a new...