Dear World

Please Kill Me,

Welcome back my fiendishly feral flock. As has been the pattern, we return to Monday (red-eyed and droopy-faced). In any case, I hope that the weekend was as good to you as Bruce Willis was to Ving Rhames (#PulpFiction #ThatSceneWillScarYou). Anyway, let’s get to today’s barely relevant conversation.

Consistency – (or as fat people call it – the reason that no one likes coconut flakes in anything). For those of you that have been paying attention, you’ve probably gathered that I’ve been a pretty busy boy. (And for those of you annoyed by that – you can save yourself a minute and not tell me).

The fact of the matter is that in order to be successful you need to be able to regularly follow through with a myriad of projects. That isn’t to say that a break every once in a while isn’t vital – however if you’re the kind of person knocking on opportunities door (i.e. you haven’t really made it yet) , then you will have to concede that it is imperative to bring as much exposure to yourself as possible.

Aside from the obvious (various accounts, word of mouth, widespread availability), the next important step is to not only publish in as many places as possible, but also : as often as possible, and to the standard that your readers have come to expect.

*Sidenote: You also do this for people who may not have heard of you yet. More often than not people hop on the bandwagon, a long time after the fact. If you keep your writing (and the quality of it) consistent – it opens the door for them to binge on your work. Those people -more often than not- become the die hard fans.

Don’t get me wrong. We all can’t be Tupac or Prince (who spent literally years of their lives constantly creating and releasing material). However, if you are not so artistically inclined (or if it’s just not your way of doing things), it does help to sort of map out what you’ll release and when.

Not only will this relieve some of the pressures of expectation – but it will also give you a stronger perspective of where you stand with your audience. This comes in especially handy if you decide to creatively reboot yourself. (It’s never a good idea to blindside your audience.) Remember, your relationship with your audience is a vital, yet fickle one. If you offer the promise of one thing, yet you deliver another – you will lose some people’s attention. We all fear the dreaded Unfollow. 

So if you’re feeling drained or uninspired, instead of forcing something that may be considered subpar, perhaps it would help to speak on the experience. People are a lot more forgiving when they understand. (Or if you have the ego of British royalty, simply just take a few days off to regroup.) In either case – the problem is avoidable if you put in the time and effort to stay ahead of the inevitable Writer’s Block moment.  Delivering on the same level or better every time – is most of the labor.

As always, this is speculative – but it couldn’t hurt to give it some thought. (That and if I’m being honest, I’m tired of reading random pander-posts that lead nowhere. Although I guess I’m the king of that. I take back EVERYTHING I SAID. #notreally).

Go punch Monday in the pancreas,

-Antwan Crump.