Writing About Writing

When I think of what I do that I want people to support, there are just so many things that I'm not really sure where to even begin with. When I was streaming regularly I could point people towards my various channels and hope they would click the "subscribe" or "follow" buttons. I'd like to think that in the future I can point someone in the direction of the page for whatever my next project that manifests in reality is. As for the present, I can only ask people to read what I'm writing, and doing that might be the most important thing in the world.

Not specifically reading what I write. The world likely couldn't care less what I'm working on right now. Rather, supporting writers is probably the most important thing in the world, because supporting writers means supporting everyone.

Do you like video games? Professional sports? Literally anything? Congratulations! You like people who write. It doesn't matter what your hobby is, someone is writing about it. There are people writing about the thing that you love because they also love it. There are also people writing about the thing that you love because it is their job and they like not starving. It doesn't matter whether you think that the thing you love is largely centered in writing, because it is even when you don't see it.

Every YouTube creator is writing, even if they aren't using scripts for their videos. Every creator period is writing. Even non-creatives are writing. The written word is a backbone of society, not just as it pertains to the jobs we do or the things we enjoy, but in nearly every aspect of our daily lives. I imagine that even if you step away from the device you are reading this article on and look around in every direction that you will find words resting among most of them. It could be a label on something, or a piece of your child's art hanging on your refrigerator. It doesn't matter what it is as long as it has words. Someone wrote them, and you need to support them.

The best part of supporting writers is that it takes almost no effort. You don't have to do anything special. Just read. If you are reading, you are supporting writers. There isn't any process to go through, no buttons to click or services to subscribe to. Sure, you could do those things, and there are plenty of platforms that will let you do just that, but you don't have to. You're here, reading this, and it didn't cost you anything to do so. And yet, you are supporting me, because you are reading. That's it. I know you can do it, you know you can do it, there is no one in your life who will question whether or not you can do it. It's just reading.

Realistically, you don't even have to read to support writers, because almost everyone you could support is writing. Get a subscription to HBO if you want to support the writers behind your favorite shows. Buy an album to support your favorite songwriters. Visit a lecture to support your favorite whoever that wrote a thing about whatever. It. Doesn't. Matter. If you are doing a things, you are likely supporting a writer. So keep doing it.

I'm not going to point out any of my hobbies that need eyes on them. I'm not going to say that there is something out there that you desperately need to know about and throw money at. I'm just going to ask you to read, or to listen, or to watch. To do whatever it is that you are already doing, just to do it a little bit more. And to be conscious about the fact that when you are doing that thing, that you might just be supporting someone else in ways that you were previously unaware of. You could even be supporting them in their writing, and it means more to them than you could imagine.

If you would like to support John Dodge in his writing, you can do that by following him on Facebook and/or Twitter, as well as by checking out what he has to say about comic books over on CBR.com. You can also support him on Vocal by clicking the buttons at the bottom of this article that tell him you enjoyed it or let you send him some money.