Pigeonholing

It’s a crappy process when you think about it. We live in this extraordinary, magnificent world full of nuance and complexity and we are constantly striving to make everything, and I mean everything, fit into these neatly organized square, stackable boxes. People aren’t square or stackable. They are vibrant little shooting stars of wonder and ferocity, but unfortunately we people live in a world now run by algorithms.

These algorithms determine what’s likable, clickable, and consumable. You’re this or that. You’re black or white. You’re in or out. You’ll make 3,000 versions of the same video because that’s the only video style that receives the dreaded word – engaaaagement.

I’m not unique – I want your engagement too. My problem isn’t unique either: that I’m too unique. This isn’t the first time I’ve made “content” and run into this problem. The problem of uniqueness. I could dedicate myself to doing one thing and one thing only in the name of increasing engagement. I could find a comfortable label and stick with it. The problem with that is I know how that story ends.

Instead of continuing to find joy and fulfillment in taking this creative little heart of mine out for a spin, I will grow bored. Tired. The work will become work and my heart will no longer be in it. And that’s not fair to either of us.

So consider this an anti-pigeonholing experiment if you will. You’ll see me post poetry and share blog updates here. If you choose to follow me on TikTok you’ll see me review books of all varieties with an emphasis on horror, read flash fiction, read children’s books, and any number of other things. If you follow me on Instagram I’ll post reading challenges, writing tips, and more.

If you like writing, reading, horror, speculative fiction, science fiction, kids’ books, poetry, and flash fiction you should probably stick around.

We’re gonna stay unique.