Celebrating one year of Creativity Under Capitalism

This first year has been a total blast—and there's so much more to come!

Guys, it’s really true: The older and busier you get, the faster time passes. The past year has absolutely flown by, so I was flabbergasted when I realized that this week, Creativity Under Capitalism hit its first birthday!

I know that it’s cliche to say, “When I started my newsletter, I never thought that so many people would want to read it, blah blah blah”—but it’s true. I have lofty aspirations for a lot of things, but this newsletter has never been one of them. I started Creativity Under Capitalism because I caught myself having the same conversations with friends and fellow creatives over and over: how to balance art with the work required to keep food on the table, how to rediscover the joy that makes creating so fulfilling, how to decide when to make “marketable” art and when to kick economics out of the process entirely. And quite frankly, I needed a project. I’m my best self when I’m Doing Stuff™.

It has been deeply rewarding to find that nearly 300 people so far have resonated with my thoughts on creativity as it relates to capitalism. It has also been incredibly validating to build an audience for the Freelance Series, my $5 monthly special issue about building a sustainable and happy freelance career. Those who don’t subscribe to the newsletter but read issues sporadically instead, I’m grateful for you, too. We’re all in this together.

I wish I could say that I have new and shiny things to add to this newsletter over the next year of its cute little worldwide web life. But I don’t. I enjoy writing Creativity Under Capitalism the way I do now, and I enjoy the conversations it sparks with those who read it. As irritating as the internet can be sometimes, I’m grateful that this newsletter serves as a virtual, biweekly salon of sorts, where we can ponder ways to help our creative selves thrive despite capitalism’s pressures. I’m also deeply grateful for the friends I’ve made by writing Creativity Under Capitalism and thus dipping my toes into the Substack community: Marble, Auzin, Lidija, James, and Nathaniel write brilliant and thought-provoking stuff, and chatting with them has been such a gift.

What I will do to mark the occasion, though, is flip the end of my newsletter on its head for the first time. At the end of each issue, I include my “what’s been inspiring me lately” section, which lists a small handful of things that have fed my creative self: songs, books, meals, little wooden figurines from Mexico, and so on. This time, I’d like to know what’s been inspiring you lately. Is it a workshop you went to? A conversation you had with a friend? A really good podcast episode? A flower you spotted on the side of the road?

Thank you again for reading Creativity Under Capitalism every other week. In a world full of email spam and in which we’re all trying to stare at screens a little less, your time and love is endlessly appreciated.