Dissonance.

019: Try being a writer for a day, try it.

I actually do not know when we started to limit ourselves to one thing to make money @this fucking thing. I suppose it’s the same feeling when a singer gets told that acoustic version of shit simply does not sell. Lies.

“Oh, I thought you wrote about [blank], that’s why I subscribed.”

“I miss the old version of [blank].”

I’ve been thinking about the word Dissonance a lot over the past few weeks.

It baffles me the way that you’re supposed to have the same group of friends, order the same shit from the kids menu because it’s just SO you , have the same world view since the age of 12, and if you EVER change your mind about anything at all, you’re a hypocrite, you gotta stick to what you know! Where you came from! Your family!

Well, guess what, sunshine? We’re all a bunch of hypocrites. The thing is, I’m proud of the ones that love the good type of change as much as I do.

I bet that some social media writing expert (who made a hundred million dollars writing for only 2 months) is teaching most of you to build your brand on one thing so it’s simpler or some shit like that, but here I am, with five (5) years freelancing, writing full time, doing some pieces for magazines here and there, just to tell you that that’s just because people just want to read about that one thing that they’re very interested about and that’s probably it. Which is why your growth (and my own growth) has been, well, shortened. The possibility of knowing more about stuff and exploring other things you don’t know about is also shortened, because writers became influencers who tell you exactly what you want to hear, about the content you want to read, talk about some machine learning!

The same way that school kills artists, the fixation on turning literally any type of platform into social media for revenue purposes has killed many creative voices that were here to explore, not to be this one thing, ready and boxed for you at all times, so you don’t have to think. Everything is visual, so you don’t have to read words and make them part of your life, something that’s yours to keep, something to inspire you and make you forget that you’re in some random dumpster in Englewood where you’re having your fifth (maybe sixth) cigarette of the day and it’s only 12pm.

Are people forgetting about the beauty of writing because of the pressure of having to choose between many newsletters to read? Are you unsubscribing because you thought I had a defined niche? Or is it because I don’t post enough funny one liners?

The thing is that we, writers, are constantly thinking about reducing ourselves to one thing because readers are getting more and more visually exhausted. So much information, so much disinformation, so many takes on the same fucking subject that no one cares about when you turn your phone off and see the real world, so many hidden Ads, that it’s probably best to just read that one newsletter that just does that one thing, and that’s honestly understandable, given the fucked up context, the sick joke we’re all living in.

Where elevated basics, capsule wardrobe, same kids menu meets labubu, Stanley cups and whatever’s new in this very moment is where you’re at. Try being a writer for a day, try it. You’re supposed to be consistent all the time, you’re supposed to be viral, you actually depend on viral to make ends and not depend on your parents, but, also, viral is whatever’s fast, easy, sharp (or just whatever that references something else that has already been made, wink wink), and you’re not fast, easy and sharp. You’re a human being. Your car broke down twice this past week, ‘John with a weird laugh/weird vibe’ keeps calling, your fridge has an expired La Roche Posay serum, a rotted bagel, leftovers from last month that turned into a secret third thing you can’t name, and (maybe) two onions… So, you’re saying this 21 year old needs to be a master of their craft and have a perfect analysis of whatever’s viral and whatever you want them to write about?

There needs to be a place for writers to explore, to be able to write about whatever they want before they stick to that one thing they know they have a passion for (if they ever decide to stick to it, we’re multifaceted), then they go viral for something prolific, then they don’t have to depend on writing something that they’re not passionate about, nothing’s better than knowing yourself. When people are filled with passion, that’s when high quality text appears.

I do not know about much, but I do know how to recognize a fucking high quality text when I see one.

Show me, write about what you love. This is a high risk job anyway. Disconnect yourself from whatever’s going on and do your own thing. If your thing is just sticking to one thing and writing about whatever’s viral, I respect that. As long as you’re doing what you love, at least on your own substack page (because we all have part time/full time jobs we probably hate). Anyway, my numbers are strangely going down but I’ve been consistent, and I’ve been loving what doing. It’s me, or what’s supposed to be me. Do whatever you feel like, that’s what this post is about.

Also, the posts are always way cooler than the one liner notes, you just have to expand your horizons a little bit and not shit yourself while you’re doing it.

Mil besotes,

AMANDA.

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