In times of dread, artists must never choose to remain silent.
— Toni Morrison
We’re living in a shadowy world these days. No one who’s paying attention feels safe, and the system we were taught to believe in has proved to be an illusion. Cruelty seems to be the point of almost every move our leaders make any more. Gangs of vicious people, under the pretense of enforcing the law, roam the streets attacking and sometimes murdering people. We’re told to search for joy in any way we can, but it’s hard to find under the dark weight of terror. We’re told to keep writing, because readers need the stories we create now more than ever. But the words are so often buried in a sludge of worry and fear, and it seems wrong to try and promote our work when the country is actively crumbling around us.
But here’s the thing – if we stop building and creating, we’re complying ahead of time. Evil wants us miserable and hopeless. It’s only happy when we’re weeping. As artists, we’ve dealt with feeling not-good-enough since the first time we showed someone a page of our writing. It’s nothing new to us. We must not allow evil to appropriate our feelings for its own ends. We may not be able to change the world on our own, but our characters can. So we have to tell our stories. Other people are marching, and bringing lawsuits, and singing songs. Our job as writers is to never let the world forget that hope and joy are always achievable. I know it’s hard right now, but keep writing, even if you can only manage a sentence or two a day. The night won’t last forever, Our stories are the candles lighting our way. Keep them lit.