Lots of hopefully exciting changes coming in the upcoming months and in 2027 specifically! Stick around to be the first to know and access those changes yourself.

There is stil…

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The attention wars of the internet run primarily on advertising and fear-mongering. It’s either for sale or it’s coming to kill you. You must click to learn more!

And let’s be real for a second, aren’t we all a little tired of being advertised to? Like, wouldn’t you simply like to look at some pretty art, or listen to some cool music, or read some interesting stories, and not have yet another product shoved in your face?

Tell me I’m not alone in this.

But, once in a while, we see something… different. Something that feels real, or human, or you know… substantial. Who made it, how did they make it, and did they have to market it a ton for you to even see it in the first place?

What if you were that creator?

Who do we make things for? In an age of social media, this is an essential question to ask ourselves. It isn’t a bad or useless question, but perhaps we don’t sit with it quite as long as we should.

Was a piece curated for the audience, inception to finished product? Or did we just find it along the way?

For me… I’m not sure who I write for. And this has posed a problem when sharing my musings online. In most cases, I think my messages fall on deaf ears, because I am simultaneously thinking about the audience I want from the very beginning, and later on, not at all — you know, when it actually counts.

Is starting something from the very beginning with the audience in mind a bad move? No, I don’t think so. But are you making art or a product? Are you making something enjoyable for a consumer to purchase or a masterpiece from the deepest parts of your soul?

I think there is a current disconnect between these ideas in the age of the internet and hyper-capitalism. If you can’t sell something, is it even worth making in the first place? If it isn’t alluring, making other people online jealous or envious, is it even worth showcasing?

And then, there are the rest of us, just making things. No ulterior motive. Just sharing things we enjoy and love on the internet.

“Look at this thing I made the other day.”

Soon, we are pressured to make that a side-hustle too.

“Use more SEO-friendly tags and titles.”

“Post everyday at this time.”

“Do a giveaway.”

“Get the clip down to 5 seconds and maybe people won’t click away.”

“Get louder and use this kind of music… NO, not that kind of music!”

More hoops to jump through, all without the promise of accessible reward without more hoop-jumping.

Are we ever appreciating the artist or the art for its own sake?

We are largely unseen, unheard, and mostly untested.

Am I wrong for just wanting my writing — which I call my art, my magic — to have a place where people can read and enjoy without prompting or coercion?

Now don’t get me wrong, do I think marketing has no value? Absolutely not. Marketing, done correctly, can be an extremely powerful force. I don’t think we realize just how much of our collective subconscious and sayings originally came from advertising slogans — the United States especially.

Marketing, getting something you made and want to sell in front of as many eyes as possible, isn’t something malicious or bad in and of itself, but perhaps is becoming too much of the entire point.

I don’t think it’s fair that we are not being allowed or given space to just “exist” on the internet. And yeah, perhaps being more loud, colorful, or sensational would attract more attention to the things we make and want to show off, but I think sometimes just letting things exist and breathe for their own sake is what is needed.

Which is why I ask… for whom do you create things? When and how do their opinions and needs enter your mind?

As a recovering perfectionist, I think I know my answer. I imagine how my writing would be received too early in the process, instead of just writing what means the most to me in that moment.

If I’m writing a story I feel connected to and like the idea of so much, that I’d put in hours and hours and hours of work to see it come to life, then the readers don’t really have a place in that process — at least, not for a long time.

If you create to be seen and supported monetarily, I don’t think you are bad. You are doing what makes sense to you and contributing to the economy that feeds me too. But is that sustainable?

Better art — art that means the world to someone once they experience it, perhaps only coming across that art by chance — comes from artists who make things they care about; they wish to indulge in making a dream of theirs come into reality. That was the whole point, and they gained a fan through luck and circumstance.

When you ask yourself the question: who or what do you create for? — Just be honest with yourself and your needs. Maybe the most freeing and effective way to create can come from a drive and source you never expected to find.

One year into this new journey, I’ve learned a lot about how I function and how to manage my expectations.

I’ve written about the struggle of being a neurodivergent person who is artistic, who longs to have the freedom to create and have that be enough.

And yet, I’ve used this outlet to procrastinate.

Because, believe it or not, I’m still overcoming my perfectionism. (Shocker, perfectionism isn’t that easy a mentality to kick.)

While I’ve let a lot of things go, the pain of resistance from the world and my own brain and body still keeps me from progressing in my art form. I still want writing fiction to feel like freedom and bliss, when more often, trying to write my novel feels more like driving a nail into my forehead over and over.

I just didn’t want to admit it.

I wanted to appear like someone who loves to create and advocate for creation, and don’t get me wrong, I DO advocate for it! It is the single most important thing I can do as a neurodivergent writer and artist in dark times like techno-fascism and generative AI mania… but I’ve been deluding myself to say that it always feels like freedom.

So much of the creative process is painful, actually. I don’t wonder why people want to be called artists who use generative AI to create “as a tool,” when the process isn’t always easy. (You just aren’t an artist if you don’t create art with your own abilities, however abysmal.)

Being an artist, especially growing as an artist, is a painful experience. And I must admit, living in this dystopian hellscape and having to scrape by, I just didn’t want to accept that creative pain still needed space in my mind, heart, and body. I am so exhausted all the time; the last thing I want to do is show up to write more of my novel, especially the scenes I’m stuck on or struggling with. I want to get high and go to bed instead.

And I know I’m not alone. I am not the only creatively-inclined person who has to push past this wall. I’m not the only procrastinator or artist who chases dopamine instead of sitting with the ick, the stuckness, the blank page.

I just wasn’t brave enough to admit it publicly.

So… what am I to do now?

What will the future content of this publication be?

Will the next year of funkylightningcat Books be filled with hard-won fictional chapters, more insightful or personal essays, or will there finally be collaboration with other artists and writers?

At this point, I want to imagine anything can happen.

If you are reading my work here, and you gave me a like, a follow, or a subscription, I know you care; you have faith in this dream.

I want better for all of us.

I want to provide better.

And I am hesitant to make promises to you, so that I can deliver on what I say. So for now, I will hold my tongue.

Thank you so much for one incredible year of funkylightningcat Books. A year ago, I took a chance on a dream of mine, to write and publish my own fiction and nonfiction works, and help my friends and fellow authors bring their stories to the world. I decided, that even if it was half-baked or messy, I would just start.

Thank you for staying with me through the messy, half-baked debut of my indie publishing label.

If you’ve read this far, please enjoy a free month’s subscription to funkylightningcat Books, with full access to the written archive and audio episode library (it’s not a podcast, okay?)

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I will see you all very soon. Please remember your creative friends, partners, and the small artist’s voice in your own heart. We’re all struggling, but that’s when we grow to create the best work we’ve ever done.

My writing feels more accessible to me than ever before. Yes, I still have to deal with my ADHD uprooting my routines and efforts, but I don’t blame myself or beat myself up over it. These stories will have room to breathe and matu…

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“Art is responsible, important, sensible.”

- Amie McNee in “We Need Your Art: Stop F*cking Around and Make Something,”

This sentence confounds me more than anything; it’s difficult to remember or articulate, but it’s self-evident enough to be forgettable.

I think it’s time we all deconstruct our own artistic shame. Think back to all the times you were tol…

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See, this is a personal dilemma I find myself in now. I have a very, very, nebulous writing project that just refuses to say “when.”

I’ve been working on something that is very short, but at the same time, very long.

If you are writing, when do you know you’ve finished a project, like FI…

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Baby steps are the name of the game now, but we have lots to accomplish and hope that burnout won’t be allowed into the process going forward.

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That’s by design, by the way.

In her book, “We Need Your Art: Stop F*cking Around and Make Something,” Amie McNee asserts that public, economic, social attitude toward creative life and work has been infant…

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As someone addicted to using their phone, and a creative person, I have been worrying over my habits and finding how to get my creative spark back through methods and avoiding scrolling. While this has all been extremely helpful, I don’t want to write about how my creativity has been sapped, and instead, reconnect with what it feels like to enjoy creati…

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“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

Someone coined that, who was it? Some guy in advertising? Confucius?

What does it mean?…

That a thousand words says a lot, that a picture communicates more clearly and instantaneously than words do?

That pictures are more valuable than words because we get to the point quicker?

Maybe because words are mainly linear an…

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Adam Wa…

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When you are struggling to rediscover your creative spark (like me), sometimes it feels nice to take a look at the artists and creative minds of the past to give you some perspective.

I desperately need this, but I am also neurodivergent, and where my attention goes, my body follows. It blows to and fro and finding a landing place to humor my creative pa…

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Sorry for the thought experiments, engage if you want or just keep on scrolling. But seriously though, DRINK YOUR WATER - don’t let the AI data centers be the only water-guzzling creative job st…

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Basically, what I want to know is…

Does creativity come from desperation? Passion? Feeling connected to oneself? Do you have to have a regulated nervous system to be creative, or are the stresses of current life and oppression enough to get the job done?

Is it even about getting the job done?

Can one express themselves if they feel like they’re being hunt…

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Let’s cling to the idea that 2026 is what we make it, and that there are incredible opportunities on the horizon. Stay safe and remember you’re loved and valued.

See you in 2026!

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As a writer, I love print books, I love the feel of them and their smell, and I can lose myself in reading one. I have had many fond memories and experiences lost in the pages of a print book. I have also lost myself just as intensely in an audiobook while cleaning my house, or going for a walk, or on a long car trip.

But as an ADHDer, I know the feeling…

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This is a thought that goes through my head a lot when I’m stressed. I’m sure you’ve been there too.

While I didn’t mean to make this essay so personal, I don’t find myself able to speak on it from any other point of view. I can only do my research and tap in to what I know about myself.

We’ve all been there a time or two: emotions are high, situation is …

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Happy Halloween! Here’s a spooky little goodie for today if you want to check out something funny I do occasionally.

Make A Witch Foundation

8 subscribers in 2 months! WHOO HOO!! I know we’ll get to 10 very soon. Thanks fo…

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