Writing Black Joy Season 1 Reflections
You can listen to this blog post below.
I recently wrapped up season 1 of Writing Black joy - my writer’s gallery project for Black authors with joyful stories. It has been an extreme pleasure to bring this project to life, and sometimes I pinch myself, when I think that in January of 2021, this was barely an idea in my head, and now it’s a real thing, out on the interwebs, being read and listened to by people everywhere.
Bringing ideas to life (at least the way I do it) often feels like a roller coaster ride. I think back to when I lived in the UK and I went to Alton Towers (a large amusement park). First there is the lonnnnnnng line that I had to stand in, then getting strapped in for the ups and downs, and in a flash it’s over, and I’m wondering what ride to go on next. This is how it often is for me, the ups and downs, and the feeling that it went from moving at snail’s pace, to a thousand miles per minute.
For me, now that I have a minute to sit on solid ground, without the world spinning, I decided to take a moment and reflect on the process of bringing this project out of my head, and into the world, and make a note of some of the lessons that I learned, or more accurately, the beautiful surprises that came from producing Writing Black Joy.
I hope that this is helpful to anyone who is bringing any project to life - whether it be a book, a podcast, a blog, an art or storytelling show, a poetry slam, a play or anything else that involves some level of creativity.
My top 3 Lessons from creating Season 1 of Writing Black Joy
1. Plan… but hold those plans loosely.
I am about to misquote the most truth I have ever heard about plans. In fact, I can’t even remember where I heard it. But it was something like - Plans are important. Also they are BS. It was more eloquent than that, but also - it doesn’t need to be. Because I sometimes feel that is all any of us need to know about plans. They definitely are important - several friends of mine have built or are building houses, and I definitely understand the importance of plans. However, I have found that when diving into creative endeavours - such as this project (or writing my book or blogs) that you have to hold loosely to those plans, and allow space for the unfolding magic.
When I started Writing Black Joy, I had big plans for what I wanted it to be. I had visions in my head of a beautiful website, where folks would go and browse, the way they would in an art gallery, except with people’s writing - poetry, blog posts, excerpts from their books. The plan had been to put the focus on the writing, and at the last minute, I decided to send a few questions to the authors, so that folks could know who had written what.
One of the things that worried me the most, was that I didn’t have the technical skill to bring such a website to life. (I still don’t!) I wasn’t even sure I had the skill to describe it to someone for them to build. However, one thing I learned from my blogging experience, is that there can be a difference between how I want the website to look, and how people use it. And so I decided that despite the fact that I had a lot of plans about the website, and how I wanted it to look, that I would let it evolve as the project did.
In fact, I took that approach with the entire project. And the truth is, it turned into something I could not possibly have imagined, and that was wayyyyy better than the idea that I had. For starters, the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to have a project that was multidimensional, and not just words on a screen. I made a snap decision to have audio interviews with the authors, instead of just getting them to answer the questions, and an even more snap decision to record video instead ofjust audio.
It meant that in addition to having the answers to the questions I asked, I had rich conversations with fellow writers, who dropped some serious gems that all creatives would find useful. I was able to go so much deeper than I imagined we would, and it has stirred up lots of ideas for the future. It also pushed my creative edge, editing and producing video clips to share during promotion, and on the website for some of the authors who read live for me, which was a delicious treat. And it prompted me to create the youtube channel for Writing Black Joy where you can find almost all of season 1 interviews, as well as season 2 when they drop!
In addition, people didn’t interact with the project the way I thought they would, and so that big beautiful website I was considering has made it’s way down to the bottom of the to-do list. The reality is (at least I have found that to be the case with websites) that sometimes I have to make the thing and use it a bit, in order to know exactly what it’s going to be. Which brings me to my second beautiful surprise.
2. Messy action trumps thinking about it.
Something I have practiced for quite some time is taking messy action. In the case of Writing Black Joy, it looked like hitting share early on in the process, and then making changes along the way. The interview that I shared last was actually the first interview I did, and when I was preparing the page for Maria, (who was that first interview) I realized how much the project had evolved just in the few weeks while I recorded and produced it.
But I think that taking messy action is so important! For one thing, I got clearer about the project the more I actually did. I got more clarity after recording one conversation than I had during the months of “thinking about it”. And I find that is often the case, which is why I tend to just dive in, and then figure things out. There is a downside to this (you’ll find the mistakes I made in next week’s blog post) but all of the advantages trumped any negatives.
Things that evolved during the process included the website, the interview format, how I was promoting it and so much more - and I now have an entirely different vision for season 2. One of my favourite Stephen King quotes is - the best stories write themselves - and I have found this project to be the same - it took on a life of its own, once I got the ball rolling, and I am glad that I stayed open to it being something different to what I had planned.
3. Ask for what you want Wednesday
Early on in the planning of this project, I was inspired by a friend to create “Ask for what you want Wednesday” where I ask for what I want! (And the catch is - it can and does happen on any day of the week!)
One of my first asks was in my decision to crowdfund this project for the expenses that I would have. (And by the way, you can still do that through my tip jar.) I did that because I wanted to start creating it sooner rather than later, but also to get other folks involved and invested. It was more incredible than I could have dreamed. I asked folks to share the link and contribute if they wished, in exchange for some pretty fun prizes if I do say so myself, and as a result, I was able to meet so many folks who loved the idea and who followed the project. I got some lovely contributions, and it reminded me that people can be helpful and kind. It also reminded me to ask for what I want, and stay open to what comes as a result.
This continued during the process, as I continued to ask guests to share about the project, and I found it created a joyful community - which was just what I envisioned when I was thinking about the project. I have often felt resistant to asking for support, but I am glad I did during this project, and that support helped to transform the project as well.
These were the main beautiful surprises that I got during this season, and I look forward to many more with season 2 and beyond. I have so many great ideas for future seasons, and I am trying not to get carried away, but instead to focus on season 2, and allow it to unfold!!!
Next week, I’ll be talking about where I could have improved Writing Black joy, reflecting on what didn’t go so well.
Until then, I send you big love from a small island!
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