Crown

Pride on the Page Day #29

Each of the mini-essays I’m publishing for the month of June are part of a creative challenge to share joy during Pride. You can find out more in the link below. You can even participate, if you’d like!

Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay

✍️#PrideOnThePage (a fun, free, creative community challenge) - runs June 1-30

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

29. Crown

It’s hard not to think of the word “crown” without the phrase “crowning achievement,” or at least to avoid all of the other less appealing phrases with the word “crown” in them. So…. crowning achievement it is. And I can think of no better achievement than to write continuously for thirty days, interrupted only briefly by a couple of videos instead of written responses to prompts.

Here’s where I’d like to share my enormous gratitude to

Wild Lion*esses Pride from Jay

for creating this 30-day challenge for Pride. This has been an extraordinary way to bring our community together to celebrate, express ourselves, and find joy in reading and following others. I’ve found a lot of other creators here, too, who have made beautiful things this month. Congratulations to all of you! It’s not easy to complete something like this. Below are a couple of my take-aways from the month’s prompts and writing.

1. I really thought I knew what I was doing. I didn’t.

2. I thought this would be easy. It wasn’t.

3. I’d already planned on writing something every day this month, but thirty days of writing is a huge responsibility.

4. I lost more subscribers than ever this month. I also gained new subscribers, including a few who think I’m worth paying for.

5. I discovered that recording videos isn’t terrifying.

6. I’m ready for a vacation!

That subscriber thing… I feel like I should explain. First off, I’m not upset, not ruffled, not worried. Somehow this community has grown to contain more than 2300 subscribers, even now after a few dozen bailed. Getting a daily email from me might be more than some folx wanted. Hell, it was more than I wanted to write, really. And for others, I’m certain we’re all feeling overloaded by the media, by news stories, and it’s very reasonable to drop things that you don’t need. But also, I don’t pitch hard for paying subscriptions. I don’t pitch at all. So when someone decides that they’d like to support what I do, I feel a profound gratitude for their contribution.

If you’re a paying subscriber, thank you. You’re a big reason why I keep going, why I believe my writing is worth sending out, and why I’m still writing books in the background.

If you’re a free subscriber, thank you. You also give me a lot of reasons to show up. This space is still open to everyone, and I’m grateful to share it with you.

But the biggest take-away from a month of writing? Well it turns out I’ve missed this activity. I’ve missed writing about my own memories and experiences. I’ve missed showing up with no expectation that anyone will see what I do. I’ve missed the craft of writing. Jay’s prompts inspired me to create new things, to speak openly about some hard stuff, and to keep going even when I felt worn out.

Tomorrow’s post is another video, this one more deeply personal than others. I’ll be taking a little time off after it goes live. Please know that your comments are still wonderful to see, and I’ll do my best to respond to them after I’ve given myself a little recovery time.

Happy Pride to all of my friends out there.

Your trans friend,

Robin