An Invocation for Beginnings
Deciding to publish something every day in September.
Let me take the idea that has gotten me this far and put it to bed.
What I am about to do will not be that, but it will be something.
― Ze Frank
Yesterday, on a sleepy Saturday drive while visiting family, it struck me that I hadn’t written anything all year. I’m no statistician, but if I extrapolate this trend for the rest of the year, I’ll have written nothing in 2024. Like all other self-criticism, I let this thought cheerfully drift away and scrolled through YouTube to avoid my life. There, I came across Casey Neistat’s daily vlog. Here was Casey creating a new movie every day. What if I could write something every day for a month?
I’d need a clean month to start, of course. Nobody starts a challenge like this on the sixth day of a month. “That’ll buy me some time to forget about this idea and continue not writing,” I thought. Maybe I could eat some ice cream in the meantime, too, or a juicy cheeseburger. Yum. I took a look at my calendar to see how much time I had until the next month started. It was August 30th. Oh, shit. Better find a new excuse.
There are enticing reasons not to write. Most, if not all of what I write, will be bad. Ideas are beautiful in my head, but dreams come to die when the pen hits that cruel pad of paper. Why not let ideas rest in the Neverland of your mind, never growing up like Peter Pan?
Sharing my writing scares the shit out of me, too. I’m scared that I’ll reveal too much. I’m scared that I’ll say something controversial and get cancelled. I’m scared that I’ll embarrass myself. And I’m scared that I’ll have nothing to say.
This pit of thoughts reminded me of another YouTuber. (Man, that algorithm is good.) Ten years ago, Ze Frank started a show, a weekly video series of funny, often sentimental musings about being human. His work was a precursor to the vlogging genre that later exploded in popularity, influencing the nature of celebrity and how we share our lives with each another.
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Following a five-year YouTube hiatus, a show was a sort-of sequel to Ze’s previous series of video blogs called the show. The new series was highly anticipated and raised over $100,000 in a Kickstarter. After the long break and with much excitement, the opening video of a show was called “An Invocation for Beginnings.”
It was a three-minute manifesto against the creative blockades that prevent you from starting a new project. It directly addressed procrastination, a fear of the audience and expectation, and perfectionism. In 2012, when that video premiered, YouTube was still a new kid on the block, and I was sixteen.
Here’s what that video reminded me:
- Don’t let the fear of failure stop you from trying. Failure hurts but is necessary to grow.
- Creativity is a flywheel. You’re not born with a finite number of ideas. When you put the work in, you’re rewarded with more ideas.
- Consistency compounds growth. Progress is made when you put the work in, day after day, week after week.
- Audiences discourage self-indulgence and encourage usefulness. Sharing your work is scary, but it keeps you accountable.
Some time ago, a friend paid me a surprising compliment. After learning a new coding language to solve a problem, she told me she admired that I’m not afraid to try and fail. I wondered how I could be more like the person she thinks I am.
This is one way.
If I succeed, I’ll have written thirty pieces. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll even write something good.
See you tomorrow.
Originally published at https://shitstack.substack.com.
