Looking at the post history of my blog, it may come as no surprise that the major skill I’ve been developing these past couple months is just. Social media. Communication with the outside world. This isn’t something that comes naturally to me, most accounts I have are abandoned promptly after about a week of activity. I’m no good at filming videos, I generally do not like to share unpolished work.
Folks reading this may be surprised at that, given how often I post. These blog posts are typically unedited, stream on consciousness warm ups designed to put words to page and rip off the sharing band aid so I can get over my shyness. It’s difficult to stretch yourself out like that.
Here are my thoughts, here are the things I love, let me tell you about them! I wrote this in twenty minutes, consider what I have to say on the subject as an interested layperson pretty pretty please.
Sharing my work doesn’t come naturally to me. I am not an easily brandable person, and I’m not always sure how to promote my work. Even though my end goal is not to make money off my work, I do want the people who might enjoy it to be able to find it at all. In a world of social media, that means fostering some sort of parasocial personality for folks to latch onto before I even have a book for sale.
Even though I’ve run a social media account before, it was for an educational group. I could keep my posts non-personal, focus on easy science crafts and activities. There was no personality or brand, I did not have to share aspects of my life or consider framing devices. Now, there are no science activities. It’s just me, it’s filming my tarot journal ritual on Mondays, it’s sharing my editing techniques, promoting my blog on instagram, sharing photos, making some kind of post for each day.
It’s a skill, and not one I’ve ever been good at. I still refuse to pander to the algorithm — perhaps a mistake, but I’m allowed a touch of stubbornness in the way I operate.
from the pen of icarus blake 
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