The Thursday! Newsletter 1-50: Fire the Cannons of Encouragement!
Volume 1, Issue 50
I'm going to talk about encouragement again.
I know I've devoted many issues of Thursday! to encouraging you to do the very best art you can, to keep your head up, to shake off the roughly ten bazillion encouragements life will throw at you, or to simply make the art you want to make right here and now. This week will be a little different.
I'd like to tell you what encouragement means to me.
A couple of weeks ago, I started to notice a lot of folks around me were talking in bits and pieces about how ground down by life they felt. They were going through some trial or hardship, or the normal grind of life felt a bit more sharp and gritty, or they felt like whatever they tried to do to make things better just wasn't working. I wrote a newsletter with as much encouragement as I could pour into it, for them any anyone else who might need it. See, I'm there, too. Been there. Am still there. It is the way things are right now for a lot of us.
I decided not to dwell on that and to do as much lifting up as I possibly could. If I couldn't improve my outlook, I sure as heck could put a little sunshine and strength into someone else's, if they wanted it.
Then a couple friends who also subscribe to Thursday! decided to share it with others. Enthusiastically. Openly. Honestly. They found something good in it and said to anyone who would listen, essentially, "HEY! THIS HELPED ME AND IT MIGHT HELP YOU, TOO!" One of them posted their thoughts, with a subscription link, in a private Facebook group. The other e-mailed it to a few of her friends. Neither of them said a thing to me before they did it. I didn't ask them to.
Over the next few days, more people subscribed to Thursday than had subscribed in any week since I started almost a year ago. Most of them signed up that day. My subscriber count went up more than 20 percent.
Now, I'm not writing this to brag about my subscriber count nor am I writing to talk about marketing strategies or anything like that. I"m writing about encouragement, remember? Let me tell you, every time my inbox lit up with a new subscriber notification, I smiled. I stood up a bit taller. I held my chin up a bit more. The world felt less heavy. Troubles felt less troubling. I felt like I was a winner and not a loser. I felt not merely competent but pretty darned excellent! They spent actual time writing nice things about my newsletter. They said it helped them. They said it was useful and fun! They want other people to read it because they they're sure other people will find it helpful and useful and fun, too.
WAHOO!!
The time they took, which I imagine wasn't more than a few minutes, made me feel great for days. I won't call them out my name, but I bet they've figured out who they are. Thank you, you two. You not only gave me a boost when I badly needed one, but you reminded me that encouragement costs little but buys a whole heck of a lot.
That's what I want to tell you this week. If you know an artist who made something you think is cool, don't just tell them. Tell the world. Take a few minutes and write a Facebook post. Make a dumb little Instagram video for ten seconds and hold up the cool thing and tell us how cool it is and where we can get one ourselves. Get in the habit of doing that regularly -- once a week, perhaps. Twice a week. Write it in your diary or bullet journal or day timer or whatever, so you don't forget.
And don't think that just because someone shares the same "creative space" with you, that your encouragement will be redundant or just too much. That Facebook post I mentioned? I'm not only a member of the same group but I'm also an admin there. I'm not a stranger and I've mentioned Thursday! more than once. Her post -- her honestly and openness and joy -- is what got the attention. You might be reading this right now because of her post even though you hadn't noticed Thursday! before. That's what encouragement does. It jumps up and down and yells and points a bit. It calls attention and sends up flares and fires cannons into the air. Don't assume everyone knows about the cool thing you read or saw or heard. If it moves you, set up a time to tell someone else about it. Share the joy. Spread the word.
A little encouragement buys a ton of uplift. And you know how much we could use that right about now.
* * * * *
Okay. Change of subject. I'm going to take a little break for a couple weeks. Thursday! has almost reached its one-year anniversary and I need to do a little bit of housekeeping. Mostly, I want to catalog my archives, so I can more easily see what I've written before. It'll keep me from repeating myself accidentally and it'll also make it easier for me to link to past issues so you don't have to crawl through the archives as much yourself.
Here's how it'll work. For the next two weeks, I'll still send out the newsletter, but the essay won't be very much. I may link to a couple cool things I've found or drop in a stray thought or inspiring quote I think you might like, but you won't get the usual 1,200 words like usual. Heck, I might even write you a special poem or story. Who knows?
Also, Halloween is coming up and, don't you know, I wrote a book of clever, creepy, and adorable poems last year. My friend Cedar Sanderson illustrated and published them and you can buy the whole thing for a very reasonable price. It's called One Hungry Werewolf and Other Monstrous Rhymes and it is perfectly suited for late-night recitations in candlelit rooms full of people looking for a little fright or for your Halloween party. they make great gifts and great party prizes. If you feel like it, you could buy a whole bunch of them, give them away to Treat or Treaters and instantly become the coolest house in your entire neighborhood. Do give it a good, long look! - - - - - - - - - - - -
What I Wrote this Week
"To This Base Use...", a story with certain overtones and also a talking skull. - - - - - - - - - - - -
One Last Thing
This is where I ask you to help me out. I can't share Thursday! nearly as well as you can so if you know someone who might like what we have here, forward this along or show them the archives.
You can also buy or share my cool book, give it a solid review, or get an autographed copy (ask and I'll tell you how!).
If you're seeing Thursday! for the first time, HI! I'm glad to meet you. If you want more, subscribe right here.
As always, you can always talk back to me by hitting the reply button! I can't promise I'll always answer back, because I'm quite forgetful, but I'll read everything you send.