Back in 2015, I started multiple ventures. First was my company, Coffee Reading Writing which featured bookish designed mugs, and with that, I also started the Coffee Reading Writing YouTube channel.
At the time, I was writing my first novel, a Young Adult Dystopian. All my life, I’d written other genres and formats such as poetry, music, plays, and screenplays but I had never attempted a novel.
In my mind, only those with English degrees could write those. That was the lie I and many of my other soon-to-be writer friends told ourselves growing up. Finally, I took the plunge and it felt like coming home.
Searching for Community
One thing I desperately wanted when I started my fiction journey was community. I would scour the internet and youtube for any information I could find on the writing process. It wasn’t that easy back then, not like it is now. Nowadays, there are tons of YouTubers, bloggers, and authors who consistently share their journey as writers and even an author's business and life.
Since I was having a difficult time finding a writing community, I decided to attempt starting one by creating a YouTube channel dedicated to the writing process. As a writer and aspiring author, I was searching for all the knowledge I could find and in turn, I wanted to share that with others who may be having a difficult time finding the same information.
Unfortunately, after about a year, life happened and it happened hard. I won’t get into the messy details but making videos just wasn’t doable for me or my mental health. Slowly, and without a plan, I stopped making videos and it’s been something I’ve missed ever since.
Hello From the Other Side
Still, to this day, I get the random comment or email asking about writing or thanking me for my videos and it’s been years–YEARS. I almost feel guilty because I felt accountable to the little community I started and wanted to see grow.
These days, AuthorTube has become a thing and many are consistently participating in the community which has been awesome to see.
So much so, that my heart has tugged a few times in recent years regarding coming back. “But, it’s been years,” I’ll normally say to myself. So much has changed since I last posted videos. The platform has changed. The community has significantly changed. I have changed. I’m not the same person from all those years ago. I’m not working on the same things I did all that time ago. My process and writing journey have completely shifted from what they used to be.
So, while I’ve thought about coming back, I’ve had to ask myself, “What would the content be about now?”
Other Hindrances
Then we have the unfortunate hindrance of the tech aspect of coming back to YouTube. My phone has always been my camera and luckily, I have an upgraded one from the one I used to use all those years ago. The thing is, iPhone has done this lovely little thing now where plugging your phone into a PC to empty out your pictures doesn’t really work. I’ve had tons of problems transferring my photos and videos out of my phone to save onto the computer.
That would be kind of crucial as I’d be using my phone to record and would need to transfer the video out and onto YouTube. Then I have the editing debacle. I lost my access to Premiere Pro so I’d have to go back to editing on my phone through the limited iMovie app.
The truth is, I’ve wanted to come back. I’ve planned a come back multiple times throughout the years but something always got in the way and eventually, I’d just get the wind knocked out of my sails.
But here I go again, wondering if it were at all possible,
“Should I return to YouTube?”
I’m still passionate about community. It’s what I have loved about writing for platforms like Medium. I have also been enjoying finding all the writing sprint streams I could on YouTube and joining. Conversing with like-minded creatives in the chat has been a balm for my soul.
Introverted Dilemma
Since the pandemic, I have truly been missing community. And while the world is working on opening back up, we still have the beauty of the internet. So many of us writers–not all–are introverts and being able to have those connections online during our process is a huge benefit to each other's journey.
This post is mostly rhetorical. It’s me needing to “talk it out”. In the end, I’d still need to figure out the iPhone transferring issue as well as editing software, but if I could get those two things figured out, I may hop back onto the platform.
This time though, I’d want to expand the content to more than just writing but also mindful living. My mental health has been a big battle in recent years and I’m a huge advocate of breaking the stigma surrounding even talking about one’s mental health struggles. Thankfully, society has gotten way better at doing this but we still have a long way to go.
Ain’t that just the truth about most things?
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