I’ve been delaying writing this newsletter because I was waiting to feel good enough about something professional to sound excited. And, honestly, that’s not happening. A few days ago, on reading about yet another terrible circumstance in the world, I thought, I can’t keep doing this. At the time, I meant undergoing the curated (yet real) traumatic triggering that happens again and again and again in our feeds. (More generally, we—meaning human beings—really can’t keep doing this. But that’s a problem we’re all struggling with.) I’m going to use that impulse to narrow my aperture and talk about making art—or not.

Can I keep making art when everything outside my home feels a little nightmarish? Some can, especially those for whom the making of art is an escape from trauma and distress. That’s not me. For me, writing is rigorous and challenging, something that takes more out of me that it puts in. What I usually feel when it’s going well is not happiness or joy, but a strong satisfaction with the process and the product. To be fair, there have been projects that were more or less pure fun: the book River Bank and the game RiverBank were two of them—but those projects were fun only because of all the times writing was not fun. I could write them because, most of the time, I didn’t write things like them. (This is me, not all writers.) So I’m asking here why I personally make art, when it’s not an escape and it’s not easy, at a time when I could really use something to be both.

I’ve said before in newsletters that I think I’d make art even if no one saw it, but I’m thinking that the last two years proved to me this isn’t true, after all. I moved over to games when American Tour couldn’t be resold. It matters to me to be read and/or to make money from my work. (Money is an indication that someone besides me thinks a story is good enough to be read. It’s also very useful, of course.) When neither happen, I can’t push through the inertia. If no one is reading me, and no one’s paying, and the process isn’t pleasurable, why am I doing it?

The answer for, Can I keep making art in this world? has nothing to do with the broader world and everything to do with my relationship to art and changes in how art is brokered and read. Many, perhaps most, professional writers have the same experience these days, so I’m not alone in this. Nevertheless, it can feel pretty isolated.

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This has not been a chipper newsletter! Sorry for that. Perhaps before I end, I can make some suggestions not just for me, but for all the artists you know. Okay, maybe not the rich and famous ones, they get this already—but maybe them too? You’ve heard all these a million times:

Reach out to creators. Tell them what their work means to you. Tell them you appreciate that they are still making it. Stay excited about them.

Talk about creators. Share with others, and keep doing so. Brandon Sanderson may not need the exposure of you raving to your bff, but almost everyone else does.

Stay committed. A writer dedicates months or years to a work, but even the writers who do get word of mouth only have it for a few days or weeks before someone replaces them. It doesn’t matter how well loved your work used to be; what matters is whether it’s still relevant or remembered.

Donate to creators, and/or buy their work. The money is meaningful. Artists often don’t have a second job because this is their second job, time consuming and precarious as it is. Apart from the practical aspects, it’s a marker of achievement when there may not be many others.

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So next month, I’ll be jollier! I usually am.

Publishing

• Still working on the Bugwick RPG. Mostly done with

• Small freelance game-writing project is incoming: due 2/28.

• Solo journalling game project is hanging fire until after PAGE (see below).

• Fiction...stalled and grumpy.

Appearances

• Philadelphia Area Gaming Expo in Philly in January! I’ll do talks and demo games.

• I had to cancel being at the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts.

• I will definitely be at Constellation, in Lincoln NE in March. My friend Chris McKitterick will be the writer guest of honor there.

• There’s also an upcoming June event that hasn’t been announced yet. Details soon.

Teaching

• Summer workshops are a GO! We have confirmation that we will have housing in Lawrence KS next June/July. 

• Also a GO: Fit & Finish microwriting masterclass online in late March. This will be offical in a week or two; meanwhile, write me if you are interested.

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Stay kind, be cool, support artists.

Join me over on my Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/c/kijjohnson

Or check out my website! This is going to undergo a major revsamp in the next two months. https://kijjohnson.com/

Or my bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/kijjohnson.bsky.social