Hello,
I hope you’re doing okay in this heat. I presume you’re in a hot place because we’re currently experiencing the warmest week on Earth in over 100,000 years, which is a horrendous reality to find ourselves in.
Last week I wrote about feeling more relaxed career-wise and trying to work as little as possible. This week, I wanted to stay on the topic of work, writing about career competition and how truly weird it can be.
I was very new to the writing scene when I began freelancing in early 2020 — just before the pandemic slowed everything to an eery stillness. Nervous to put myself out there, I signed up for a writing course with Faima (of
) and Tahmina (of ) to get myself writing regularly, especially as I wasn’t landing many commissions.With no inkling of what lay ahead, I envisioned scenes from American TV shows when a character takes up a Creative Writing module at an Ivy League School alongside ruthless peers and never seems to complete their assignment on time. I expected a healthy dose of competition and scrutiny in my IRL writing class, but it was nothing like that. Instead, it was a supportive and nourishing experience, with participants picking out what they liked about other people’s work in a way I’d never witnessed before.
During one of these evening classes, I talked with Tahmina, a more experienced writer than myself, about avoiding stepping on other people’s toes within the media world, especially as a person of colour in a very white industry. “What if you’re writing from a similar angle as someone you know, or about their specialist topic? How do you not make enemies?” I asked her. “There’s enough space for everyone”, I remember her telling me. “Everyone has their own unique perspective, even if two people write about the same topic, their work would be very different.”
Over three years later, I still remember her words. They anchor me when I get anxious when I’m stepping out of my comfort zone to write on an unfamiliar topic or see that someone else has written a piece similar to the one I’m close to filing.
It’s been rare, but I’ve also encountered situations where people have been extremely possessive of their ideas, thinking others are out to copy them. Usually, these involve young people at the beginning of their careers, desperate to prove to the world that their opinions are indispensable. (Honestly speaking, most of us have been there).
As a writer, I think being accused of stealing ideas is possibly one of the worst crimes someone could accuse you of, mainly because the subtext is that you’re incapable of original thought. Besides, what is “original thought”? Aren’t we all, to an extent, inspired by one another’s thinking anyway?
When it happened to me once, I couldn’t believe the evidence presented — an opinion of mine about a popular news item that was too close to someone else’s. I wasn’t intentionally copying anyone, by the way, the truth is far simpler (and ego-bruising) — sometimes, progressive takes on the internet just aren’t that unique.
It can often be hard to convince people of this because when scarcity mentality positions others as your competition, almost everything they do acts as confirmation bias that they’re on your turf. Don’t get me wrong, there are clear-cut cases of someone doing ctrl+C on another person’s career, but when there are only so many ideas in the world, some are bound to cross over. Like my uncle used to say, “You can only make so many songs with 13 notes in an octave”.
These experiences are rattling and can shake your confidence. I’m also the kind of person who naively thinks everyone I meet in the same industry as me is automatically my friend. Why not inspire one another and bounce ideas off of each other? Isn’t that how creative communities are formed and thrive? Doesn’t wider exposure to ideas mean we can all be better critical thinkers? Isn’t peer support what gives people the confidence to reach for the stars?
Sadly, not everyone sees it this way. So I’ve learned it can be better to keep a safe distance from strangers, and instead surround yourself with supportive friends who big you up at every opportunity.
I recently caught up with an acquaintance in Tashkent who told me she once had an industry ‘friend’ compete against her. She’s in the kind of industry which feels small if you’re a woman, so it was even more upsetting when she realised what was transpiring. Since then, she’s had a few encounters with other people’s weird behaviour, being shut out of events she should have been invited to, and receiving weird comments intended to knock her down a peg or two. “I don’t get it,” she told me. “When I do something, I see it as part of a wider effort to make good changes happen, but some people get competitive with me, and it’s horrible.”
I felt for her and repeated Tahmina’s words: “There’s enough space for everyone.”
And added my own: “Don’t hang out with anyone who makes you feel otherwise.”
What I enjoyed reading this week
‘What to do with climate emotions’ is a piece about climate anxiety/grief/dread by Jia Tolentino in The New Yorker. A few stand-out quotes:
“…every day that we step out into the uncanny weather, we experience a better and more stable climate than any we will ever experience again”
“No one can make a proper decision from an air-conditioned room”
“He would do the work in front of him because of the love he has for his daughter, who reminds him, simply by being here, that there is no way around the future.”
This scathing review of Caitlin Moran’s new book on men and masculinity.
Great bit of analysis in the Guardian about Europe's 'greenlash’:
“As long as climate action was an abstract, lofty goal, it was easy for everyone to pay lip service to it”.
I thought Daisy Jones’ interpretation of the Jonah Hill boundary texts was interesting. She asks, are his texts really “therapy speak” or are they actually what some people on the internet think therapy speak is?
A Novara Media report into Kwasi Kwarteng’s ex-flatmate Tristam Hunt, the director of the Young V&A who has been taking down items about trans people in the museum. What a weirdo.
What I’ve been up to this week
I’ve got a new piece about hayfever ruining lives in The Guardian. My favourite part was talking to Vicky, who had to postpone her wedding when she realised she’d booked it for June, arguably the worst month for most sufferers.
I’ve been taking DJ lessons in Tashkent, and my teacher, who coincidentally owns a club, is putting me on to play a set next week! I’m nervous but also ready to retire from my long-held position as a bedroom DJ.
Also I low-key miss those classes!!
Aww this was a relatable read, thank you for sharing, and for the shout-out! XX