Alright, slide that glass over here, and let’s get into it.
You know the drill.
Whiskey that smells like burnt jet fuel, a bar that’s seen better days, and you and me trying to figure out how to survive this weird, wonderful life as artists in a world obsessed with shiny new toys.
(If you missed the last post made for The League of Extraordinary Penmanship you can find it if you click this)
Let’s talk about that, yeah?
The shiny new toys.
The platforms. The apps. The trends. The “holy-shit-have-you-seen-this-new-platform-that’s-gonna-change-everything” kind of buzz.
Every damn time, people are losing their minds over the Next Big Thing like it’s a golden ticket to Wonka’s chocolate factory.
And hey, I get it. It’s tempting. It feels fresh, exciting. It’s a blank canvas with a million filters and the promise of virality if you just crack the code. But you know what it really is? Distraction.
No matter how shiny the platform, no matter how fresh the trend, the thing that will always make you win as an artist is showing up. Every. Damn. Day.
Consistency, baby.
It’s not sexy.
It’s not flashy.
It’s not gonna make headlines.
But it works.
It’s the grindstone your creativity sharpens itself on. It’s the glue that holds your relationship with your audience together.
Consistency is the unshakable truth that outlasts every algorithm change, every app update, and every “new hotness” that pops up like a caffeinated jack-in-the-box.
And yeah, I know. It’s boring. It’s exhausting. Some days, you’d rather crawl into a hole and let the squirrels adopt you than make another piece of content or put yourself out there again. But you do it anyway. Because showing up, even when you don’t want to, is what separates the people who dabble from the people who last.
Let me paint you a picture quick
Imagine you’re running a diner. Nothing fancy, just a cosy little spot where people come to eat, chat, and feel taken care of.
Now, imagine every week there’s a new restaurant opening down the street, all flash and flair, promising the moon and stars.
What do you do? You don’t try to out-flash them. You don’t burn yourself out chasing trends. You focus on your people.
You show up every morning, rain or shine, and make the best damn pancakes you can.
You learn your regulars’ names. You keep the coffee hot. You make the space welcoming, fun, maybe even a little weird in a way only you can pull off.
Before long, those shiny new places close their doors because they were all sizzle and no steak.
But you? You’ve got a line out the door. Your customers keep coming back because they trust you. They know you’re gonna show up and deliver. They’re not just customers anymore; they’re your people. Your tribe. Your army of pancake-eating loyalists.
It’s the same with your audience. Whether you’re an artist, a musician, a writer, a content creator, whatever (Like I’ve been harping on since forever) the people who follow you aren’t looking for perfection.
They don’t care if you’re on the newest platform or if your graphics are as slick as a used car salesman’s pitch.
They care that you show up. That you’re real. That you’re there for them, day in and day out, with something they can connect to.
The fun part. Because consistency doesn’t have to feel like dragging your soul across a bed of hot nails. If you make it fun, if you make it entertaining, not just for your audience but for you, it becomes something you actually look forward to.
You’re not just cranking out content to feed these big tech companies algorithm; you’re sharing little slices of yourself, your humour, your weirdness, your humanity.
That’s what keeps people coming back. That’s what makes them stick around, even when the next shiny platform rolls into town.
Look, I’m not saying you should ignore the new stuff entirely. Experiment, sure. Play around. But don’t let it pull you away from the bedrock of what you do. Showing up and creating. Tirelessly. Relentlessly. On the days it’s easy, and especially on the days it’s not. Because that’s the secret sauce, the thing that will keep your career alive long after the trends have turned to dust and the shiny toys have rusted over.
Just like in these emails where I share what’s swirling inside of my brain.
It’s about showing up. To the grind. To making it fun. And to building something so goddamn solid that no algorithm, no platform, no shiny new thing can ever take it away from you and if those pesky squirrels come along and wanna sabotage you…
You’re gonna show up tomorrow, the next day and forever onwards until you crossover to the other side…
Stephen Walker
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Stephen Walker
Unit 146317
PO Box 7169
Poole
BH15 9EL
United Kingdom