Something New

Going Into Year Three of Make Art Good Again

Photo by Daniel Tanase on Unsplash

Make Art Good Again is officially two years old! Well, a little over two years, because realizing I’ve passed the anniversary of its start is becoming a bit of a tradition around here. I did it last year with my one-year milestone piece; now it has happened again. Will I do the same next year? Only time will tell.

At any rate, I’ve been thinking a bit about where I want this publication to go from here. I have written fewer pieces this past year than in my first year. The reasons for this vary. In part, this is due to simply being more busy with my art business, as I work to add new products to my shop, paint more, and work more on marketing.

More so, though, this is due to my philosophy towards writing. Though I have had a general goal of writing at least one piece a month - and would prefer to get in two - I also don't want to write articles simply to say I published X number of pieces in a month. I've seen too many content creators go that route only to, sooner or later, end up putting out a constant string of content that ranges from mediocre white noise to rage bait. Too often creators lose sight of their original, well-intentioned missions. This isn't to say that it is bad for someone's goals to change or evolve; however, there is a difference between a channel, account, or publication changing naturally over time and one that changes to appease algorithms or audiences addicted to a constant stream of toxic drama.

I don't want to be like that. I don't want to create content that is simply there to take up space and time. I don’t want to be manipulated into creating content to appease an algorithm. I don't want to waste my time with that sort of thing, nor do I want to waste my readers’ time. Every piece I write may not be a masterpiece; I am certainly more proud of some than I am of others. My readers may prefer this one over that one. But regardless of each individual article's quality, at least in comparison to the others, I hope to always produce articles that are from the heart rather than from a place of just getting something out there for the sake of doing so.

Another reason I've published less, in this last year, is because many of my recent articles have taken longer to write. Sometimes this is simply because a particular piece is longer than normal. Other times it is because an article is born out of a somewhat nebulous concept or idea that takes time for me to distill into something that I can communicate in a way that will actually make sense to my readers. And still other times it is because certain pieces take a bit of research. This is particularly true with pieces that focus more on pop culture (such as with the Killing Creativity series), because I have to take the time to watch movies or TV shows which act as the catalyst for those sorts of articles.

I never thought I would see the day when I would call watching TV shows or movies “research,” but here we are.

These pieces, which take more time to write, are often the ones I'm most proud of, though, admittedly, they are not necessarily the most popular (those tend to be the ones that focus more on current events). They are the ones I am most eager to write and I am often thinking about them for weeks or sometimes even months before I even begin to write notes for them. They are, typically, the pieces that I feel most reflect my core vision for Make Art Good Again. So clearly, they are not articles that I wish to attempt to slim down, much less cease writing for the sake of time and reaching goals.

All this being said, I am still sensible about the realities of growing an audience on the internet. Consistency is what everyone says is required to grow online, but what they really mean is consistency plus frequency. Substack is a bit more forgiving than other online platforms; no one expects the writers they follow to put out a constant stream of articles. Still, the reality remains: the more one publishes the more likely one is to get new subscribers.

During my first year on Substack, I went from attempting to write something every week (a goal that I quickly realized was ridiculous) to determining that two articles a month was a reasonable, attainable goal. But this past year I only hit that goal about half the time. So I've been thinking about ways I can have the time and energy to write those aforementioned time-intensive articles while still getting two articles published a month.

For a time, I thought I could simply write shorter pieces based on posts I would normally make over on Truth Social (follow me over there if you haven't already), but that won’t fit into the character count. The kinds of ideas that take more characters to flesh out than Truth Social allows, but that I would not normally dedicate a whole article towards. This has worked out a time or two, but not often enough to reach that consistency goal. I haven't given up on this idea - you may very well periodically see shorter articles in the future - but I need something more.

Then it occurred to me that on a publication with the word “art” in the name, maybe, just maybe I should write about art. My art, specifically.

For those of you who don't already know it (which may be many of you, since I don't often refer to my own work in my articles) I am an artist. Specifically, I am a photographer and painter. Back in 2016, when I first began to teach myself how to draw and paint, I would write out a little reflection on what I had worked on each day. At first, this was a way to help me to analyze my practice sessions so I could improve upon them. Then, as I started to take on bigger and more complex projects, it became almost a cathartic exercise; something to help me bring an art piece to its close. But over time this practice has, more or less, ceased. Oh sure, I still do a bit of writing when I post something on social media - especially when I post my works in progress - but it isn’t quite the same thing.

Recently I realized that I miss writing these reflections and since I want to write more for Substack, I figure, why not kill two birds with one stone? I have no intention of writing something on every sketch I draw. Rather I’d like to write about the pieces I’ve finish, discussing the process, the things I learned, the challenges they brought up, etc. Whether this will mean I write reflections on my own art every single month or only on the months when I need a bit more creative energy for those more intensive articles, remains to be seen. But I’m hoping having a standing topic, which will of course take time but will be less creatively draining, to fall back on will allow me to fulfill my goals of writing more often and writing things that are truly from my heart. So I’m going to give it a try.

I want to take a moment to thank all of my readers for taking the time to read, like, comment on, and share my work. There are times when I am truly astounded that anyone wants to read my ramblings. Here’s to another great year of Make Art Good Again!