My partner came to me distraught the other day and wanted to ask me about being consistent. She's the editor in chief and primary author of a local magazine about art in Philly called AMAT. She has subscribers who pay for the magazine to be delivered to their homes. She's basically crushing it. But she was upset. She was worried that she's not publishing frequently enough. She said "Rhoen, it's hard living with you when you're so consistent! You publish to your Substack every month. You publish to LinkedIn every day. You're literally writing a book, about being consistent! How do you do it! It's intimidating living with you!" My reaction was that it was an unfair comparison. You can't compare your own work and processes to other people. Her writing process is completely different from mine. She had described to me that she needs about a month to actually process and synthesize the art before she can start writing. The type of art critique she does isn't about an instant reaction to an experience, it's about explaining the impact and significance that art has over time. And it takes time to process those ideas and feelings. And that's not to mention that she literally prints and mails the magazine to her subscribers in addition to posting online. That's a whole entire process that I've never had to think about with my writing. The lesson from this story, in my opinion, is to be more generous with yourself. You really don't know the struggles or ease that other people go through to have the output that they do. You only see the results. So focus on your own results. Go at your own pace. Be hell bent on quality. And don't get distracted by the perceived success of others. Who knows, they might be thinking the same thing about you! Do those things, and over time, you'll see the consistency start to build. The other thing I told her is that giving up on something you care about is never an option. It's always better to be late than never. You can view the first issue of AMAT here: https://lnkd.in/eWVa-ATc, be sure to subscribe to be notified when the next issue drops. It's going to be a banger.
Woohoo!!
Creatively blending strategy with story
1moAs a new-ish Philly resident and a longtime arts champion, this is the mag I've been waiting for. Thanks for your thoughtful post and for bringing AMAT to my attention!