It’s day two of 2018. Raise your hand if you are already finding your determined resolve shrinking incrementally as the day passes on, you return to work, and temperatures drop from these freak storms. BUT DON’T GIVE UP JUST YET! 2018 is still young — so young — and whether your resolutions are vague (“Exercise more!”) or more concrete (“Finish the first draft of my Great American Novel”), it helps to have a little encouragement in the form of articles you can read late at night when you’re looking for something to motivate you beyond the illuminated screen and your bed.
We’ve got you covered. These five sites will give you a little extra encouragement, support and inspiration throughout the new year, whether it’s Drip, Kickstarter’s new Patreon-esque platform for creatives to raise funds, or through non-cheesy advice from artists and writers from sites like The Creative Independent. I’ve turned to these sites many times over the past year to give me perspective and guidance, and they might just be what you need to sail you through January 3rd…and 4th…and 5th…
The Creative Independent — The Creative Independent describes itself as a “resource of emotional and practical guidance for creative people.” The design of the site is mind-expanding by itself — a blank, black-and-white digital journal for you to absorb sage words from. They cite the importance of their spiral logo because a spiral symbolizes “circling back to a core idea over time, something all creative people must do to create whatever it is they’re creating.”
For any writer, artist, filmmaker, etc, who has ever felt like a mad person for seemingly retracing many of their creative steps, The Creative Independent functions like an ongoing artistic journal. Start off with their January 1st entry: an emotional planning worksheet.
99U — 99U is Adobe’s publication for tech-centric creative folks, and the site’s categories run the gamut from productivity strategies involving work/life balance and workspace design to more emotions-based interviews and essays on dealing with failure and risk-taking. Clicking through 99U left me with 20 tabs open on topics ranging from useful apps for freelancers (Dropmark, y’all) to the importance of not forgetting your “slow-cooked ideas.”
99U can occasionally get a little jargon-y (“How to Stop the Infighting and Actually Conduct a Creative Ideation Session”), but the useful suggestions you take away from many of the articles are worth it.
Drip — Drip, until this last year, was an unused music subscription service that supported musicians. The platform has evolved — and joined Kickstarter — its services to support all artists via a model similar to Patreon. Simply put, “Kickstarter is for projects, Drip is for people.” If you’re a visual artist, video game designer, musician, or any kind of creative professional, you can do your thing and hopefully find some support on Drip by offering your supporters sneak peeks to new work, behind-the-scenes access, etc.
Names you’ll probably recognize are already using the service, from Anita Sarkeesian’s podcast Feminist Frequency Radio to internet artist Molly Soda.
Girlboss — I’ve found Girlboss to be a pretty useful, you-go-girl resource for quick-and-easy tips. Broken into easy categories like “Work,” “Money,” “Wellness,” and “Life,” I’ve found many of the articles have been genuinely helpful. I just read through a piece about taxes, which for a terrible adult like myself, gave me a few good pointers for freelance work.
Alright, now go forth and conquer! I have a somewhat unfounded but also unwavering optimism for 2018. We got this.