Fandom And Persistence

You'd like to be a writer.  Or an artist.  Or a webmaster.

You create fanfic.  You create fanart.  You make fansites.

There's just one problem – you're sort of bad at it.  Your worries are that you're never going to make it to "good" on the fandom level, let alone on the professional level.  Your biggest concern is you're lousy next to amateurs.

My advice to you is – if you want to do it, don't give up.

Wanting to do something will spur you on.  You'll spend more time, double down on your efforts, and in general, keep trying to grow.  You'll keep trying.  If anything, you'll put in enough effort that by sheer dint of trying you'll improve, or at least become less worse.

This isn't meant to be sarcastic, it's meant to be true.

If you're good at something you can almost certainly look back at a time you were lousy at it or didn't even know what it was.  You're in that state right now as you assess your horrid writing, bad organizational skills, or inability to make a simple seam on a costly costume.  Your incompetence is merely the start of getting better.

Persistence in the face of our own mistakes is one of the major things that leads to success.  Keep that in mind.

– Steven Savage

Pro-Fan Pride: The Power of Thinking Differently

Whatever your career, it helps to think differently. Thinking differently helps you solve problems others see no solution too.  Thinking differently lets you blaze new trails and find new things.  For that matter, thinking differently keeps you from getting bored.

This is one of the things that makes me proud to be a progeek – because progeeks, the fans and geeks and otaku who make their hobbies into careers, are great at thinking differently.  It's a great edge in your career.

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