I'm Rejecting a Theme

I mean, my tagline is "I have too many hobbies" after all.

“If you want the algorithm to notice you, you need to pick a singular theme, and make all of your posts similar. People like knowing what to expect from you, and the more content you post that is similar, the more the algorithm will pick up on it and get you views!”

The Very Nice Put Together Lady on Instagram Reels has just finished telling me how she “believes in me” and that I can “follow for more”. I scroll past. When you use Instagram as a small business owner, most of the Reels that engage with you are Reels that give you “tips and tricks” to increase all those rare likes, views, and (in your wildest dreams) follows. After almost a full calendar year of trying to maintain my small art side hustle on the ‘gram, I’ve learned that the biggest way to stand out on the app is to be the same. 

The problem with that is, I have a lot of fucking hobbies and I love talking about them. So, in trying to be a Good Girl Who Listens to the Almighty Algorithm, I have a lot of Instagram accounts. Bookstagram, Artstagram, a SECOND Bookstagram (with my friends), a Petsstagram (because I didn’t want to bog down my other accounts with too many cat photos), a failed Foodstagram that I never bothered to delete, and a private account where I make my life seem more interesting than it is. 

I can’t help it. I’m the person who goes to a buffet and gets a tiny bit of everything. I have anxiety. What if I don’t get the blueberry pie and I regret it later? The world will end, obviously. 

I created a Substack with the idea that I would just talk to myself. The concept of getting back into writing (aka hobby #457835201142841) was incredibly appealing. Another bonus being that I might meet a few writers. Since then, there is a small gaggle of perfectly beautiful people who have decided to subscribe (if you’re reading this, hi) to this blog, which means people might actually read what I write. 

The past few days, I’ve been stewing (see: panicking), once again, with the concept of a singular theme. Should I make multiple Substacks? Should I change “Brooke Makes Things” into just being about writing? But if I do that, do I pick essay writing or fiction? But, does that mean I can’t share my visual art at all, even in notes? How can I (gasp) describe my blog in a single sentence?

Long story short, I got really anxious about it, and then I got over it. It just can’t be this serious. Y’all, I think I just need to reject a singular theme. 

To be myself is to be authentic, and to be authentic is to show you all of me. Acting, surprisingly, is not one of my ten thousand hobbies. 

So, if you came here to check out my novel? Surprise! You’re going to read a post about my Dead Dad. Came for the Dead Dad content? Ooooo, gotcha! Here’s a post about crochet possums. You love crochet? Okay well DUCK because I decided to write BOOK REVIEWS TODAY, HOPE YOU LIKE WHIPLASH. 

To the people who stick around to see my collage of creative thinking, hi, I think we just became best friends. If you feel weirded out and overwhelmed by the promise of a million, sporadic ideas glued together into the online equivalent of elementary school noodle art -- that’s fine too, I’m not here to judge. I think that the internet is a space where there is infinite potential to find community, no matter your niche (or lack thereof). When I make a post, I find comfort in the confidence that out there in the liminal web space, there is probably someone else with a digital glue stick and a million hobbies who is interested in what I have to say. Maybe someday they’ll find me, and we can share our noodle art hobby collages with each other. We can even eat blueberry pie.