Hello dear reader - it's a strange new relationship, this.

Long term content creators might feel at ease, but many of us find ourselves in a position that's wholly unfamiliar. We have a platform that directly rewards us for our work based on the value of our contributions as perceived by the community itself. There's no middlemen, no censoring authority (looking at you, Youtube) and no advertisers to pander to. We can do our own thing, in our own time, following our own visions as a self contained community.

Mainstream culture is dominated by multinational corporations and is designed to be as appealing as possible to as many people as possible. This results in a sort of empty, meaningless grey sludge that oozes falseness and fakery, rewards inoffensive mediocrity and is almost always contrived and formulaic. It is entirely incapable of being spontaneous, honest or truthful.

Ironically, this monotonous monolith has spawned counter movements - one result of which is this platform. Now, as a growing global community, we can begin to take back some of what's ours - to reclaim our culture. In this spirit it's our responsibility to avoid the pitfalls of grey corporate monotony, instead holding up ideals of honesty and truth, making valuable, meaningful content and supporting each other along the way.

However, considering most of us have spent our time consuming culture and not actively participating in it, it should be expected for us to take some time finding our feet here in this new space. I think it'll do us good to reflect a little on what motivates us, what we want to bring to the table and what mindset we want to take when approaching this new platform.

The problem is we're presented with the same factor that corrupts corporations into being proponents of monotonous grey sludge - money. The difference is, that as individuals, we have a choice between creating content designed and motivated by the desire to make money, or looking within ourselves and asking the question "what do I have to offer?"

I'd like to appeal to you, if you're new to this platform, to really think about what you'd like to bring to the table. Really dig deep and see what comes up. Rather than trying to imagine what people want to see or hear, ask yourself what interests you, and have confidence that, if you pour your energy into it, it will have real worth. Throw yourself at this without fear of failure or desire of results, and people will respond infinitely better than if you insult their intelligence by pandering to them like grey corporate sludge.

Quitting my day job and starting my life as a writer was a tremendous risk. It was a fool's leap. A shot in the dark. But, anything of any value in our lives, whether that be a career, a work of art, a relationship, will always start with such a leap.

And in order to be able to make it, you have to put aside the fear of failing and the desire of succeeding. You have to do these things completely purely, without fear, without desire. Because things that we do without lust of result are the purest actions that we shall ever take.” - Alan Moore

I hope this didn't come across as too preachy. These are problems I'm working through myself, I thought some of you might be in a similar position. Thanks.