Being quiet and slowly building mastery and expertise doesn’t pay off much at first. So many creatives must make a calculation: Do I want the short term, could-

Being quiet and slowly building mastery and expertise doesn’t pay off much at first. So many creatives must make a calculation: Do I want the short term, could-go-viral-at-any-second thrill of being a vocal expert in my field? Or am I more content playing the long game? I’ve been playing the long game for longer than “social media” has been a word. It helps to have a lot of financial resources that I can burn while I continue to labor in obscurity. I have no desire to position myself as An Expert, nor to do the shit involved in chasing social media success (I like big slow projects made to satisfy myself, not quick stuff you can crank out daily and repeatedly pivot towards whatever gets the most traction), but I sure can see how that’s super tempting. If I didn’t have the financial cushions I do I’d have swallowed my pride and taken that bullshit path long ago just to try and survive.