I’ve been writing commercially since 2009, and in that time, I’ve written some books that, at the time, were not considered mainstream. They dealt with topics and themes that not very many talked about, and for a time, I had no problem building my platform around being the outlaw, the outlier. I started out writing erotica and erotic romance, and at the time, I was comfortable building my brand around that, being the “Master of the Mindf*ck.”
And then, I had loftier aspirations about midway through my career. My trusted writing circle felt that I could expand my literary world and still be true to who I am as a creative, so, I pivoted a slight bit. I went into writing a romance, but it was what is now considered “why choose” in the literary industry, but it’s always been a polyamory romance, and I’ll stand on that forever. Then I wrote a paranormal romance with a Faustian spin, and that went well (to this day, it’s probably one of my top three books to date that I’ve written). Then I switched to romantic suspense and found a groove that felt as comfortable as when I was writing in the erotic romance space.
And then I pivoted again, and here I am, writing YA Fantasy and YA Paranormal and New Adult Fantasy and only the gods know what other tricks I may have up my sleeve. I’m having as much fun in year fifteen as I did in year one.
But, but, but…
There’s still that nagging feeling in the back of my head whenever I start a new project, and it doesn’t matter if it’s a genre I know well, or a genre that I haven’t written in for years and I’m getting back in my groove of writing in that genre.
Will. The. Readers. Get. It?
I’m only speaking from my experience, of course, your mileage may vary. I sometimes got sensitive when a negative review came up, and I almost conflated that one review to the rest of the reviews being all negative and I should’ve thrown the whole book away to begin with. Constructive critique I can handle, but when readers start to get personal when they don’t even know me like that, it really can mess with a creative’s head. It took some time for me to get to this point, but I’ve finally reclaimed my mantra, “It’s better to write for self and have no public than to write for the public and have no self.”
I messed up badly last year and allowed the public discourse over my recent release to get in my head, and I’m just getting back on my square and balancing my headspace. The shadow work that was required of me was nasty, but necessary. Going into 2025, I vow to be a different creative.
But at least when the question of whether the readers will get it or not rears its head, and it will, I’ll have a better response than the one I came up with last year.
I’m still him. Period.
And speaking of getting back into balance, I’ll be speaking on the frustrations of trying to strike that balance as a father, a husband, a brother, a friend, and all the other hats I wear on top of being a creative.
See you tomorrow!
Shakir
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