Why do you like to share your creative hobbies publicly?
No really, I want to know.
Hello, happy Saturday and welcome back to Creative After Hours. I’m having a chill Saturday. I started my day with a 20 minute guided sauna session. Every five minutes the teacher smashed an ice ball soaked in essential oils like eucalyptus and pine on the hot coals to bring up the temperature. Sounds a bit woo woo, I know. But I love it. Then I hopped into panicked as I got into a three minute ice bath, while breathing like I was about to give birth. It’s still too cold for my tits, but I’m getting there… I let my body plunge a little deeper into the water each week. Then I met two friends for coffee and now I’m seated at the eating table in my living room listening to the “creativity” playlist on brain.fm (highly recommend!). My boyfriend is at his friends new house installing flooring (no thanks), and I’m enjoying my alone time.
Earlier this week, I shared with a long time friend that I’m working on a creative side project (this Substack). I gave her a quick summary of what I’m writing about. Things like life, creativity, being a freelance writer, and whatever else I’m into lately — usually in the form of personal essays and with a splash of humor.
I explained that I want to keep this project seperate from my freelance writing day job since it’s a different type of writing and for the time being, it’s just for fun. Then I shared a list of titles for my Substack blog and newsletter. I’ve been in my head about whether my current title, “Creative After Hours” conveys the right message. From the list of options, she also chose Creative After Hours, so I think I’m on the right track.
But that’s not what this post is about. After we exchanged a few messages about the title, she asked me a thought provoking question, which I think would be interesting to discuss here.
Her question
Such a great question, right? To give you some context, she’s a friend from middle school and has witnessed all my phases of starting businesses and side projects and sharing all of them openly across my social media profiles. This personal Substack is my first creative project that I haven’t shared with anyone I know in real life at the moment (except for 1-2 people – hey!).
I love that it’s my little secret and I’m enjoying meeting other creatives here on Substack. But I don’t share the writing I publish here anywhere else.
I think I don’t want to set any expectations and doing something without risking judgment from people I’ve known for a long time is freeing for some reason.
But back to her question… Why do you like to share your creative hobbies publicly?
My answer
My gut response was…
“I dunno. I guess I like to see that people like it. Maybe I like the recognition.”
We exchanged a few more messages, but I want to highlight these two.
Clearly, I’m a huge fan of The Artist’s Way. I’m sharing reflections here on Substack (week one and week two) — I owe you weeks three through five — coming soon!
Anyway, I’m human, so I care what people think (to a certain degree), and I like recognition.
But I mainly like the way it makes me feel when at least some people (even one person) enjoys what I put out (I guess that’s recognition too). It’s especially rewarding when you lovely readers leave comments about how you can relate to what I’ve shared or how it helped you in some way. I think it makes us all feel less alone.
I hadn’t explored personal essay writing until a few months ago. I’m learning it’s a great way to connect with people through shared experiences. The more vulnerable and real you are, the better it feels and the more connections you make.
Recently, some of my top performing posts are the raw ones (at least they feel raw to me).
Even just sharing the fact that I’m working on personal essays led to an out of the ordinary conversation with a close friend. By the end of our chat, I was telling her how much I love the ceramic sponge holder and bowl that she made for me and how every time I see them in my house, I think of her. What a sweet moment.
Side note: As I’m writing this, another reason popped up. My writing for work gets critiqued a lot and edited, etc., so I’ve developed a thick skin in that sense. It also gets shared with hundreds of thousands and sometimes millions of users/customers. It’s not personal stuff, but maybe that’s also why I don’t feel shy about sharing my creative projects. 🤔
Over to you — let’s discuss in the comments
Why do you like to share your creative hobbies/your writing publicly?
Do you think we all have an inner artist that can be unleashed if we do the work?
What are some noteworthy realizations or experiences you’ve had since you started writing on Substack?
Is Substack also your little secret?
I find sharing my stories and perspectives on Substack a great release. It gives me an opportunity to express things I may not have the time or audience to do it with in everyday life. Plus I find the experience of writing to be like a brain puzzle as I try to figure out HOW I want to say something. That said, what I've found most revealing about the writing I'm doing is the reaction (or lack thereof) that I get from people in my life (including some that are actually in the pieces I write!) I've found a new community on Substack that shares and reads. I love that!
That is a good question! I think it's all about connection for me, when I write something and put it out there in the world, sometimes people read it who have similar or different experiences and who then share their thoughts with me, and that way I get to know more people and they get to know a bit more about me.