Ennead's Address
The state of the Republic Kingdom is strong.
Yesterday I announced Ennead’s return to Kickstarter…
Today I want to share the top 3 lessons I’ll be carrying with me into the new year. If you missed my reflections on 2022, check the link. As is the case with any good reflection session, you’ll learn a bit about the future if you choose to read it. As for those lessons:
Don’t chase vanity metrics.
I spent a solid 5 months trying to build an audience this year. I was watching follower counts, likes, shares, and impressions until I couldn’t stand to look at them anymore. You know what I learned? That those are poor ways for me to measure meaningful progress.
Sure, they matter. More impressions means more traffic, more traffic means (the potential for) more business. That’s a good thing, right? Well, unless you aren’t clear on your target audience, how to attract and engage said audience, and what exactly you want them to do once you’ve done those things.
Instead of chasing vanity metrics in 2023 I am going to look for more meaningful ways to interact with larger groups of potential readers:
attend more conventions, be a guest on more podcasts, seek out interview opportunities, and explore options for a complimentary long-form platform to build on alongside this one. The reels and shorts aren’t quite cutting it for me as my only means for “organic marketing.” I’ve got to find some more options.
YouTube anyone?
Set fewer goals and more targets.
Goals are great. I absolutely love setting and achieving them. My day job relies on my ability to set them for myself and others in order to be a successful coach. But they aren’t universally useful.
I’m a big believer in the idea that life takes place in seasons. The season I’m entering as a creator needs fewer expectations and more aspirations. These past few years have been full of goals:
“Finish Volume 1. Get Ennead colored. Hit 5-digits on Kickstarter.”
I’m going to need to be a bit broader as I enter a year wherein I want to finish my first prose novel, publish a fictional world history book, and produce and distribute my second graphic novel of over 150 (ish) pages. I need aspirations like:
“Write more freely. Seek progress, not perfection. Drafting is valuable even if it isn’t perfect; it’s not supposed to be.”
Is this all semantics? Are goals and targets the same? Sure. Maybe? But how you frame things matters. Goals are external motivating factors, things that can easily be shared and thus leading to one feeling the need to be validated. Aspirations are internal and they aren’t so easily sharable with others; therefore they tend to lead us inward toward what’s really driving us.
That’s what I need in 2023.
Look for momentum building moments.
This year there was a lot of “behind the scenes” work. A lot of testing. Loads of experimentation. There wasn’t much for me as a creator to lay my hat on and say “man, I’m proud of that.” I know, you might be thinking “what the fuck is this dude talking about?” And you’d be right to think that.
I’m not saying I feel like 2022 was a failure. It was a great year personally and professionally. Yet it required a ton of starting and stopping. Mostly because beyond all the goals I’d set for myself there wasn’t much else. And just doubling down on setting more goals midyear just didn’t feel right this year. I didn’t want to burnout because I was so obsessed with “accomplishing more.”
So in 2023 I am going to look to create momentum building moments by living up to my aspirations to create more freely by ignoring all the vanity metrics out there and just making space for more writing. This should create an internal sense of satisfaction that isn’t rooted in something that I need another to give me. Something repeatable because it’s coming from me.
See what I did there?
You can expect me to remain active here.
And if the months of November and December are an indicator, I should have more energy to create more going forward because, as I’ve mentioned in the past, I’m not a big resolutions guy. So when I have an idea or a desire to make a change I act on it. All these lessons I just laid out, I’ve already begun putting into practice. Why wait for a new year to form new habits?
As always, thank you for your support here and on Kickstarter. Your support is what makes all this possible. If you haven’t already, sign up for notifications for my upcoming Kickstarter here. Subscribers, be prepared I’ve got some things coming your way soon from both the novel and fictional history book. What’s the use of having an exclusive community if you don’t share the good stuff, am I right?
Novel and Worldbook Progress.
Thus far, I’ve got seven chapters of the novel drafted. Which is huge considering that I had just one 30 days ago. The story is really beginning to take shape, I’m at that really fun part where the outline is beginning to come to life and my new characters are starting to become autonomous entities that just happen to live in my head. Jahleel is beginning to make choices for himself. Lady Leyna is expressing herself in ways befitting her title and position within the Ennead despite being its youngest member. My mystery character is… well being mysterious of course!
On the worldbook front I’m having a great time. The years following the cataclysm that shaped Amashik as we know it have a cohesive story (or set of stories I should say) for the first time. I’ve also written a fair amount on the foundation of the major religions and political systems in Amashik today. You know where I keep losing myself (and loads of time)? In creating the differing landscapes, exploring the flora and fauna, and imagining how all of these things shape the folklore and sense of shared history in Amashik. I have too much fun with that stuff.
I’m hopeful that you find what I’m creating as exciting as I am. I look forward to sharing more soon.
JL
I'm also dealing with the twin-headed monster of "I should have done more / I should have been recognized more". Those feelings are honest and complicated, and can really leave you in a weird place. If you say you hold values like gratitude and humility, then why do you feel this way, etc. But, I think what you're doing here is the best thing you can do. Take inventory, what worked, what didn't, what's a better use of my time, what am I going to try and do differently. Back to the lab again.
Looking forward to 2023!
Great food for thought. When you're early on in a creative endeavor or career - and you're already pretty established on the comic front, but you tried a slew of new things for the social media/engagement front - that "being proud of what you're putting out there" is the important part at the beginning, not the impact. Figure which things you enjoy doing, and quietly get better at them, or turn them into things you like to do and feel proud of the final product, and maybe then turn towards getting more eyeballs on it all. It'll probably work better then because the quality is more consistent and the exact approach you're taking more consistent as well, rather than a series of stabs in the dark. That said, I do love watching creators find their way in this sense, poking at things and rejecting them. For some of us, the process can be just as absorbing as a the inevitably more cohesive, consistent output.