nine (they/them) | queer | intj AO3ⓘ in sidebloghell (this is a side blog).welcome to a collection of (mainly) others’ contributions selected by yours truly!#you get nonsense commentary in tags as a treat, #you wouldn’t want radio silence now would u?
“i don’t understand what’s happening in palestine so i won’t comment on it” of course you don’t understand. most of us will never understand what it’s like to go for months without electricity, without water, without literal food. most of us won’t understand what it’s like talking to loved ones at lunch and then having to witness their bodies in body bags by dinner. no, you will never understand what that feels like—but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t care. that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t educate yourself. that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t donate. there’s only one thing uglier than willful ignorance—and that’s willful ignorance borne from selfishness and a severe lack of compassion. if you care anything about humanity as a concept, palestine should be your problem regardless of who you are, where you live, or where you’re from.
“oh I’m too old for stuffed animals” skill issue. sorry you can’t appreciate little creatures made to hang out with you, I on the other hand am full of joyous whimsy and therefore vastly superior.
i know it’s been said before, but it bears repeating: a big, big part of maintaining your confidence & self esteem as a creator is fully embracing the concept of “you don’t have to be good like them. you can be good like you.”
for example, i’m not someone who’s particularly good at coming up with complex, elaborate plots or incredibly unique ideas. it’s just not how i choose to write. and it would be easy for me to look at someone with an elaborate, super unique plot & decide that because i don’t write like that, i’m not a good writer. after all, unique plots are good, and my writing lacks those, so my writing must not be good, right? well, no, actually. i just have different strengths, like taking a simple premise & digging super deep into its emotional depths. that’s what i do well & it isn’t any better or worse than people who do elaborate world building or come up with really creative and unexpected plots.
your writing is never going to be all things to all people. it just isn’t. inevitably, you’ll have to make creative choices that favor certain aspects of writing over others. there is truly no getting around that & it’s honestly a good thing, because it means you’ve developed your own style. but you’ll always encounter other creators who posses strengths that you don’t. it doesn’t mean one is better than the other or that your writing isn’t good enough.
comparing yourself like that would be like taking a piece of pizza & a cupcake & going “oh no, that cupcake is so sweet & my pizza isn’t sweet at all.” or “gosh, the garlic crust on that pizza is delicious and my cupcake doesn’t have ANY garlic.” obviously your pizza isn’t sweet. obviously your cupcake doesn’t have garlic. a food can’t have every single delicious flavor at once. the cupcake is good like a cupcake. the pizza is good like a pizza. so you don’t have to be good like them. you can be good like you.