Writing stories nobody asked for

Yesterday I published a 180-word story about a creature called an 'Attakai Furball.'

It's a tiny, furry thing with glowing eyes that lives in your home and feeds on warmth.

It becomes friendly when it's happy. When ignored, it becomes chaotic and aggressive.

It’s a little goofy. Pure entertainment with no obvious practical takeaway.

The idea came from my old Tamagotchi toy, that plastic egg I used for a month as a kid, mixed with looking around my apartment and asking 'What if?'

I wrote it late afternoon, right before dinner, when my brain usually winds down.

The process felt painfully slow with lots of writing and deleting. My non-fiction usually flows fast, but with fiction, each line felt like wading knee deep through sludge.

And almost no one has read it.

I have about 130 subscribers on a Substack I haven't touched in a year.

Getting a comment there is worthy of a champagne celebration with intermittent crying.

Now, listen in. I have bills to pay. I also have other work that creates an income for me.

Writing fiction with no audience and no guarantee it'll work feels precarious at the moment.

But I keep opening my laptop to write, as I have daily over the past few weeks, because it finally clicked:

The creative work that doesn't immediately justify itself often matters most.

Fiction has shaped culture for centuries without needing to solve problems or teach frameworks.

Writing these tiny stories make me nervous, but that’s fine. It doesn’t need to be an obviously useful tool to be worth making.

Most people never allow themselves this.

They stay tethered to work that ‘makes sense’ and often feel hollow because of it.

Don't be one of them. The work you know you must do doesn't need anyone's permission, including your own practical mind's approval.

If you're holding back creative work because it doesn't seem practical or validated by others, I made something for you.

‘Let Go of the S#it That Weakens You’ helps you release the belief that your work needs external validation to be worthwhile.

The course guides you through 15 steps to stop caring what others think and start making the work that's calling you.

Learn more here.

Peace out.

Alex