The 100th Post

Introduction - The Challenge

This essay has been delayed and delayed. It’s been almost 3 months since I was supposed to finish it and post this one. The 100th post. What happened in-between was a record-breaking heatwave, two dead computers, two exhibitions, a wedding, meeting old and new friends as well as moving countries. All of these things came together into a logistical nightmare which is still currently unfolding. But finding myself in this eye of this storm of life, I can’t help but feel that I must finish what was begun about two years ago. 

That is this writing challenge. I set the goal to write 100 short essays and publish them on this website. Some requirements I had for this challenge was to post at least one once a week and to make a custom illustration for the post. Other than that it was pretty free form. I didn’t set a word-limit or choose from any specific themes or styles, but have tried a couple of different ones. On average the essays have been between 3-6 pages long, meaning in total of the 100 I could have written a book’s worth of content. Now, writing a book is very different from a hundred small essays, and we will shortly discuss some of my reflections and takeaways from this challenge. I had a couple of goals in mind.

• Increase SEO.

SEO: Search Engine Optimisation is the way to optimise a website and its content to rank higher on search engines like Google, bing etc. One way is to make informational content, because the most common queries for search engines are questions. This makes informational content like essays and blog posts very popular and rank highly on these search engines. Posting more content on my website is a way to help drive traffic onto the website in hopes that they stay around and support the content. There are a lot of unnatural and inorganic ways to increase your SEO, but I wanted to do it in a way that felt natural and fun to me.

• Practice writing.

Writing is like any other skill, it needs practice and like any other skill; if we don’t use it we risk losing it. I’ve written for as long as I can remember, and it’s been an invaluable tool for me to sort my thoughts but also to experiment with creativity and self-expression. Essays and this kind of writing isn’t really my favourite kind of writing. I prefer a more open and creative approach to the medium, but it’s been a good opportunity to just sit down and actually write.

• Practice illustration.

With every post there’s an accompanying illustration. I mostly work in the physical medium of paint, but have done a bit of digital art throughout the years, and so this was a good opportunity to experiment with that. It’s a different approach to creating and it’s a lot more forgiving than the physical mediums. 

• Practice consistency and discipline.

A big one for me in this challenge was practicing consistency and discipline. For almost two years, I wrote an essay and made an illustration weekly. These two traits are essential, especially when you work with something you love: because you can’t be in love with it every single day, and there will be things you don’t like but still have to do. Consistency and discipline are the two great bringers of great works - how many beautiful ideas have not died at the hand of idleness? 

• Overcome social fears.

You can always practice your craft in silence, and hide it away from the world. You don’t have to share anything about yourself, and you can keep everything about your work completely private. That’s not my intention, and so a big part of this challenge was also for me to overcome the social fears I have of being perceived for my authentic self. Finding your voice is easier than most think, but maintaining that voice when you speak in the square is a different beast entirely.

Now with this reflection marking the 100th post how did the challenge do? Did I reach any of these goals?

Key Takeaways 

• Increase SEO.

Yes! This really worked, and these posts have massively increased traffic towards the website. However I think what I found to work for me might be different from the most common ideas you hear get thrown around out there. First off: the posts that performed (and still perform) the best were NOT optimised for SEO. They were the essays that I wrote with more humour and often satirical or absurd undertones. The number one performing post was the “Soup, Sandwich or Salad - The Trifecta of Food Theory” essay. A tongue-in-cheek “philosophical” treaty on dividing food into three categories. 

I suspect the posts themselves being more niche find a greater appeal on search engines, and the food theory itself isn’t an original thought from me. It’s strange enough to not have too many websites about it but enough that people might look up the idea. In general I haven’t found that the topical “Top 10 lists” or similar work at all, I think the more authentic and genuine posts have performed a lot better. Despite being a website to art, it’s regularly non-art related essays that have performed a bit better. Increased traffic doesn’t automatically translate to more customers however, but my hopes is that if you have enjoyed these texts that you will stick around and maybe support the cause so that I may continue doing it.

• Practice writing.

Has my writing improved? Yes and no. I’ve got better at the act of writing, but I don’t feel like my language or ability to convey emotion through text has improved that much. As stated, this isn’t my preferred writing. As a creative medium - writing is incredibly unique and allows for some seriously impressive expression, but it’s a skill which takes some serious mental power. When writing weekly I’ve often found myself to be in a different headspace.

It’s not the same playful and inspired state from which one might otherwise write. Instead, it brought me back to those loathsome school days when your text depended on absorbing information, regurgitating it back up, and spewing out some “original” thoughts. I do think a consistent writing practice is needed if you want to catch those sentences of greatness, but reading back some of the essays I’ve written during this period. I can’t help but feel like some of them feel very uninspired. Occasionally they require more work, other times they just need to be fleshed out, and at times they should’ve gone back to the drawing board altogether. 

If there’s one thing I wish I would’ve dedicated more time to in this challenge it would’ve been proof-reading and taking more time to go over the text. Due to the time sensitive nature of the challenge, I’ve often just finished a first draft, gone over it once quickly to check for errors and then posted it. This has been part of other aspects of the challenge, and to combat perfectionism. But I feel like if a text is supposed to be superb, you have to cut away everything which is unnecessary and rewrite everything which isn’t great. Some posts could’ve been greatly improved by simply reiterating and going over them a bit more.

• Practice illustration.

Similar to the writing, I do feel like repeating the same creative practice in a set pattern limits your creative strength. I regularly found myself doing what I felt like created a good illustration rather than experimenting and learning new things. The practice then often became a reinforcement rather than a new-found insight. But that isn't to imply that I didn’t learn. I learned a lot about the program, about lines and in general about what I feel like looks good and doesn’t. The quality varies, and some of them are much better than others, and the amount of energy and time I put into them directly translated to the quality of the end product.

One aspect I particularly liked was trying to connect the visual with the written content. What makes a good illustration, or how do you convey a title into a picture? These questions were more often than not, better for practice than the illustrating itself. Overall, I feel like the visual part of this challenge was something I overlooked myself, but something which has been immensely useful, especially for my painting.

I’ve taken away linework and composition and feel a lot more confident in both aspects. Even if the digital medium is more forgiving and you can redo I believe it has helped me immensely in my ability to draw from freehand. I can visualise and imagine things differently than before. 

• Practice consistency and discipline.

This part of the practice is always a mixed bag for me. Because consistency and discipline are critical abilities to have, but when matched with a practice it can also give you a false sense of improvement. Don’t misunderstand, you will improve by consistently practicing but it’s easy to feel content with this involvement and to neglect other aspects of your practice. During this challenge I’ve wanted to improve my writing and my illustrating, but what I found was that outside of this challenge I wouldn’t be doing much of either. 

I haven’t spend as much time writing on personal projects, and I did less painting for myself. That’s also okay, because no creative practice can be a straight line. Even if you practice discipline and consistency and show up every single day you’re still going to have these brief moments where you just create something special, and a lot of the other time you’re going to be sludging through your membrane in search for something decent. 

I love having a routine for my creative work, and there’s a real power to it. As stated if I would’ve committed these pages to a single work instead I would’ve finished writing a book. This challenge feels less scary and less of a commitment because it’s broken up into several smaller parts, and the weekly public posting also helps keep me accountable. I intend to move forward with similar practices based on routine, discipline, and consistency but to dedicate them to work which is more important to me personally, and to focus my mental spotlight on larger scale projects. Focusing on quality over quantity. 

• Overcome social fears.

As much as I would love to be unhinged and not care for the social limitations imposed on me by myself, I can’t say I’ve overcome all of those fears. I still recoil at the concept that people may perceive me differently than I view myself, and the idea that their abstraction of me would actually be me mortifies me. However, it has got a little bit better. 

I haven’t touched upon some topics I would love to discuss due to their more controversial nature. Out of the fear of exposing myself as a completely and utterly lunatic, I’ve toned down the more absurd and surreal aspects of my sense of humour, and this self-censoring is a daily battle with myself. When I was younger I had kind of hoped that the drugs would just permanently damage my brain to the point where I wouldn’t be worried about this kind of thing. Even now I was secretly hoping that the black mold’s mycotoxins would incur a strong personality change within me. A real physiological change that would just rid me of all filters and apprehensions. 

Since that’s unfortunately not the case and I still have to fight my natural instinct to be lowkey and normal, I’m always working towards removing some of this social conditioning. Not to be an eccentric asshole, but to just be more authentically myself. This challenge was a small step in that direction, but there’s leaps and bounds to come. 

What’s Next?

Overall this kind of self-imposed challenge facilitates personal growth, and if you have the discipline to keep your word to yourself then these things can be very helpful in your journey. I had plenty of good takeaways, both in ways I improved and also in perspective on what I want to improve further. Taking the time to reflect on what you do, how you do it and what you want to change is also part of bettering your skills. 

As stated the next step for me is to take the key takeaways and apply them to other parts of my Work. These essays will be put on ice for the moment, which is a great concern for the two consistent readers that have followed along. In the meantime I encourage you to pick up a practice and to hold yourself accountable for it. After all a writer writes, and a painter paints, you are what you do -  so what else is there to do than consume? 

Keep your eyes peeled in the social medias and the website to really find out what’s next. There’s some big things coming, and hopefully soon. 

Ex animo,

Zevul.