How Much Is Enough?
Since last week's first issue of 'Encourage Meant', impatience has snapped at my heels as I ponder the perennial dilemma for writers. How often do you impose upon people? How much is 'enough'?
Perhaps every new venture is a double-edged sword … a paradox of its own making. There is the confidence that creates the thing in the first place, followed by the immediate onset of imposter syndrome as the creator wonders why anyone would want it anyway.
That’s what I have been feeling since I put pen to paper last week for my new ‘monthly’ offering based on the Encouragement Manifesto.
On the one hand, I am brimming with ideas and creative energy. On the other, I am beset with doubt. I’m not sure why. Every Sunday - at 6 pm sharp - for the past 5 and a half years, we have sent out our ‘Field Notes for Curious Minds’, a celebration of positivity and inspiration across the eclectic range of subjects that spark our interest. People seem to like it. The readership has grown gently; the engagement has stayed strong … if anything it is growing. I don’t say that to show off; the facts should give me some confidence that I know what I’m up to.
But while I may be brimming with ideas and creativity, I am not brimming with confidence. So, I decided that I probably needed to ask for some encouragement.
Here’s the ‘ask’. How often is enough? Monthly seems like a mighty pause between musings. Weekly feels like too much. How does everyone else choose their rhythm? I’m inching towards fortnightly … no reason; it’s just not monthly or weekly. That’s hardly a winning slogan … vote for me, I’m not her or him. There’s also a qualitative question that lurks at the heart of the ‘ask’. Less but better feels instinctively like the answer to my own question. Keep the quality bar high, don’t flood the market.
What about the in-between moments, the inveterate scribbler asks, throwing another personal dilemma out into the open? The times when the creative muscle itches and the only way to scratch it is to scratch a quill across the metaphorical vellum?
Over the past 7 days, I have added some posts without troubling your inboxes. Some scene setting, perhaps, the preamble to the unfolding tale. I took a moment to thank Simon Heath for the generous and unexpected gift of illustrations to bring the Encouragement Manifesto to life; I couldn’t acknowledge Simon’s gift without writing about the way that ‘Be Generous’ binds the whole idea together.
That feels a lot like the answer to the ‘in-between moments’ question but I would love to know what you think, more or less.
I trickled those ‘in-between’ posts out onto Twitter (where we are already part of a community of ‘encouragers’):
I told myself I should hold back. Thread the loose idea of building a community of ‘encouragers’ over here into something a little more substantial. A hurdle, that’s what it needs. Earn your second burst of words, Mr Fables … stay quiet until you have 100 subscribers. Don’t push it; just let it happen. Organic growth, is that what they call it? Well, this morning I peeked in, and there you all are. One hundred and two of you. Thank you. Clearly, you are not all sitting there poised, waiting for this burst of encouragement to fly in, but you are very much there.
What Next Then?
I would really appreciate your thoughts on the questions I have sprinkled onto the slightly fallow ground of my uncertainty. Anything that encourages this encourager to offer something that strikes a chord without hitting a nerve. I am especially keen to narrow down the regularity question … if I pop up 2 weeks from now, is that likely to be a “hey, good to see you” or a “not you again”?
In the meantime, I plan to write to the ‘Encourage Meant’ page every few days. Maybe you’ll dip in … or Substack will let you know things are there; I’m curious.
You Might Have Missed
‘Encourage Meant’ (Edition 1) - Even Encouragers Need Encouragement
Pebbles in the Pond
… ripples of encouragement
Tanya Shadrick is an author whose memoir (‘of a late-waking life’) ‘The Cure for Sleep’ is a powerful encouragement to seize the moment, to live our best life. It has become the bedrock of a mighty Substack community of readers and writers who have contributed to an incredible archive of thoughts and words based on the writing prompts Tanya shares from her book.
Silentium is proof that in a world that clamours for our attention, silence has the power to drown out the noise if we seek it.
Will Johnson is on a journey of personal development; it is a celebration of gentle values, a counter to the fast-paced, ‘burnout as a badge of honour’ mindset that can weigh heavily in the world of work. His work on himself is offered as a generous encouragement to others.
I chose fortnightly for The Writer's Walk for similar reasons. Monthly felt like too long a gap – I might lose momentum and people might lose interest. And weekly felt like it might be a lot as we all have so many emails pinging in and I wanted to be mindful of that. I'm subscribed to quite a few newsletters and there are some, like Feasts and Fables, that I look forward to and that's helped by both the quality of the newsletter and the regularity – when I know what to expect and when to expect it, it gives me something to look forward. Hope helpful!
I don’t think a schedule is necessary for the reader. There is no shortage of stuff to read. Just write when you feel compelled to do so, when those ideas spill over the brim of the cup of inspiration. When they can’t be contained. If you schedule everything then it becomes a task, it becomes too easy to write about thinking about writing just to tick a box.