Kitt Kestra

One of the things that I'm trying to give myself some freedom to do is just... have fun.

That's always been part of the goal, of course: to have fun with the writing itself! I want to write the stories that I want to see, and to have fun doing it!

In this case though, I mean more the freedom to have fun with the things surrounding the writing.

(This did come up in conversation with a friend on my main account, so this is pretty well making my identity obvious to him if he ever comes across it, haha. Hiiiiii *waves*)

Our conversation largely came down to how long both of us had spent in writing spaces that had really looked down on any sort of aesthetic enjoyment. There was a prevailing attitude that if you wanted to romanticize the idea of writing, if you wanted to post aesthetic pictures of a fancy notebook, or a cute latte, or moody "dark academia" moodboards, then you were inherently unserious. That enjoying aspirational content, whether that was daydreaming about your WIP being published or fantasizing about your writing career, meant that you clearly weren't interested in actually doing any of the writing. Liking that romantic idea of spending a day in a café and writing the story of your dreams was treated as ridiculous, childish, absolutely anathema to being a "real writer."

And on the one hand, I get it! I think that basically everyone has run into people who are far more interested in the vibes than the doing. "Earn your -er" - that is, that you have to write to be a writer, is a fair bit of advice and criticism.

If what you most want to do is sit in a cozy coffee shop with a fancy latte complete with art in the foam, and you want to let that latte get cold while you get the perfect instagram-worthy picture of it... power to you, and you do you, but that in and of itself does not make you a writer or get the words on the page!

At some point, as unfair as it feels, you have to do the writing in order for the writing to get done, lol. (Precisely what I'm trying to do right now!)

Every once in a while, it's frustrating to realize that some particular person curating those aesthetic moodboards is getting more attention and shares than most of the people earnestly working at their craft, trying to get their work out there. That isn't even getting in to the people who turn their aesthetics and vibes into grifts; who sell the idea of them as a writer to a paying audience, but never actually end up with any writing to show for it, or only offer a substandard, poorly-edited mess.

It's also frustrating when people get so tied up in the aesthetics that it becomes insufferable pretension: a composition book from the grocery store, or loose printer paper, or sticky notes pilfered from your day job are going to work just fine to write on, and you certainly don't have to put off writing until you have the perfect Moleskine(TM) notebook. You don't need to try and force yourself to drink tea you don't like because that's what you're ~supposed~ to like.

All that said, I do think it's a mistake to swing so far back away from the "vibes" that you basically demand that the experience of writing be a joyless misery. The idea that enjoying the life surrounding the writing is wrong... why? If you want to light a candle and make a cup of tea to set the mood for your writing, do it! If going to a cafe for the little treat of your choice makes you enjoy the process of sitting down to get the words down, why wouldn't you? If making moodboards and playlists for your own works makes you feel more connected to the stories and characters, you should do that!

I'm hoping to just... allow myself to indulge a little. I want to be self-idulgent in the content of the writing, but also in the process itself. To let myself have a little aspiration, as a treat. To lean into the vibes and the aesthetics and all the other surrounding things that can be enjoyed.