Imperfect

embrace creative exchange

Inspired by Juni's _044: the winds of writing.

Is an apology necessary for a creative outlet's (recent) output leaning heavily in any which way? Not only can we stand on the shoulders of giants, but we can share what compels us most from what they proclaim. Circulating your highlights of fellow creatives' works can be a valued service to them, yourself, and everyone else.

On quotes, many thrive through livelihoods and pastimes spent gathering and proliferating what themselves and others have said on any given subject. What I think is important isn't necessarily your role as a possible originator, but as yet another conduit through which exchange can continue to liven up our world.

Quotes are meaningful for concise incorporation elsewhere, whether as support, opposition, or perhaps something to communicate with. Sharing a single quote can change a life for the better like how a single word, gesture, or look can. Use and adapt the building blocks before you, which would be still and helpless without your effort, to build the future you seek. Additional care can be taken to share things with kindness, respect, and ideal vibe checks before sending them off on their merry way.

Exchange doesn't have to belabor over choosing among connection types or units when each of the above has their own unique benefits. You can reinforce it by thinking ahead to what is unseen and tactical in nature. You can be optimistic toward finding a way to uplift anyone receptive you come into contact with. Less interests, more interest: interest in someone, but also interest as accumulating holistic wealth from well-maintained interest.

It's your creative outlet. Share as you please. There are so many different archetypes you can not only slot into, but even subvert into your own unique niche. Have some examples:

  1. Art forms like photography, illustration, music, and gaming.
  2. Literary art forms like nonfiction, fiction, and even poems.
  3. Business subjects covering entrepreneurship, remote work, and various occupational disciplines.
  4. Technology subjects like software, artificial intelligence, and data privacy.
  5. Inspirational content covering self-help and productivity.
  6. Alternative post formats like reviews, ratings, and chain letters.
  7. Controversial topics not meant for the dinner table like religion, politics, and economics.
  8. If you can name it, it's either already on this platform or coming soon.
  9. Whatever I publish also counts as much as your own output.

Inequal specialties complement each other through barter, exchange, and supply chains to uplift weaknesses in tandem. Let yourself find and embrace contacts with such specialties making your work the best it can be and vice versa.

Blogging, like many other communicative Internet activities, is a massively multiplayer online role playing game. Different virtual spaces span servers, guilds, or even in-game landmarks that are chosen, condemned, blessed, or otherwise labeled by your tribe. Even something as foundational as the population you converse with can change drastically, whether over time or all of a sudden.

Some questions come to mind:

  1. How will you stand out from the rest of the player base?
  2. How will you stand out with the rest of the player base that you find worthy?
  3. Can you afford to stand alone instead of on the shoulders of giants before you?

We compete as we cooperate, agreeing to play the game that survives because we show up. That said, you can play the single player game and that is your prerogative. Yet, even those who largely play life through the single player mode have some support system actively or passively supporting them. One passionate individual can be all it takes to plant a forest. Sometimes that actor isn't even yourself, but someone you genuinely trust in a relationship without neglect.

I stare at virtual spaces like Twitter, Bluesky, Substack, and others wondering if the grass truly is greener on the other side of the fence. Even then, I'm reminded that I can always just inject more platforms, more surface area, and ultimately more fun into my online experience. I can adopt my real name or another pseudonym, then rock out wherever else as I already do here. Even cross-posting my experience elsewhere gives my content new constraints, new possibilities, and a new identity altogether.

The Internet and subsets within are their own arenas with responsive feedback, a vast amount of settings, and a never-ending cast of characters with different skills, reputations, and other aspect. Communication discipline gradients offer room for participants to practice, compete against, or collaborate with each other. Real-time or asynchronous messaging, different combinations of sensory language, and all sorts of communication scales and sizes beautify the landscape.

If we peruse one of Juni's shared links, Cat's stuckness, we see a sliver of Internet magic in suspending our disbelief that cats don't type up popular posts on Substack nor play Uno. Why not exploit real-world impossibilities to inoculate the population with the possibility, if even just a subtle hint of it.

Go wild with character creation. You don't even need to assume a worldly, tangible, corporeal identity. What is even Imperfect besides intangible commentary on perfection, imperfection, and related topics, attitudes, and behaviors? As far as you know, I'm just a cat that typed this out and published it.

Want to reach out? Connect with me however you prefer: