22 Comments

What a brilliant tactic! I realize its potential only after the fact as evidenced in the acknowledgments to my forthcoming novel: “My beloved, funny, brilliant cousin Maile is without a doubt my biggest supporter and if she were my only reader, writing this novel would have been well worth it.”

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perfect example! 😊

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This is such brilliant and energy conserving advice ... and your housecoat reel was the only beacon of light in my otherwise pitch black day. Thank you 🙏

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😘

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I really like this way of thinking and it takes off a lot of pressure if you’re goal is around one instead of the masses. Your reel was fantastic as always, so you more than succeeded! And I love Gila by the way!

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right back at ya

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I recently got a short story accepted by following this exact principle. Excellent reminder!

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I love that! Congrats!

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This could not come at a more perfect time. I felt like my voice got lost somewhere in writing in corporate speak. This is the best (and easiest) way to rediscover my authentic voice.

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yes!

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I think it’s also a great way to think about creativity around anything. I switched jobs (teaching yoga to making art) after 2021 and had a bunch of dormant social media accounts. I started working in clay. And I was really bad by any metric at first but I just started sharing what I made with my irl best friend and eventually started sharing it with more people while just keeping him in mind. Important to note: my IG numbers dropped but new followers find me who are actually interested in what I’m doing not my curated personality and I started a TikTok (interesting territory for a 44 yo) based around thrifting and clay. Creating with the idea of reaching one person works really well for me, too. Thanks Leigh.

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visual arts can do so well on TikTok--people love watching the process!

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Ha, without clicking on the link, I immediately thought CoHo. Great piece - frames my Sunday mood! Thanks Leigh!

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I love the CoHo example too - she's an excellent manifestation of this concept.

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The exact right message at the exact right time. As always, thank you for writing.

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I needed this so much today. I've been beating myself up because I haven't written in 3 days (why oh why do I tell myself I'm going to do NaNoWriMo every year?), and I think part of it is the fact that I've been listening to other people's input (so much input) and losing the joy in my writing. My mean inner editor finally got too loud, and I made the mistake of listening.

When I was a teenager, my best friend and I used to write fan fiction *just for each other* and it was glorious. I need to get back to that. Thank you, again, for this post.

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Sounds like drawing an arrow, and pointing it---I like it! 🏹

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I’m writing something for you, Leigh!

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I love this idea so much. Thank you for the insight.

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I love this advice! I had a hard time using my voice when I became focused on the craft of writing while working on the manuscript of my memoir- it was like I became so focused on making sure everything was ok with the craft that I didn't sound like me! When I go back to revisions, I will keep this in mind for sure!

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This is such a helpful reframe! I can already see how I might apply this to some of the stories I'm writing now. Thank you!

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