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I started in the usual places (Google, Pinterest, etc.), but all the images were random and cheap—or worse—obviously generated by AI. Most links were selling me something, and nothing came close to capturing the magic and the realness of my Near-Life Experience piece. I needed something real—art that was real. Something made from human hands and tedious hours at an easel. Something ethereal and evocative, but rich in color and meaning. Something with imagery strong enough to captivate the reader but soft enough to illuminate the tender parts of my piece. I needed all this, and I needed it to be free.

And eventually, I found it. The process took me to realms of the internet I never knew existed and consumed far more time than I ever imagined spending on a simple online search. But even when thirty minutes turned to an hour, and an hour turned into weeks, I still knew it was out there—somewhere among the billions of images floating around in the galaxy of online public domain art, like aging stars. And in the end, every single minute of my search was time well spent. Not just because I found the perfect piece—Falling Star from 19th Century Polish artist Witold Pruszkowski—but because of what I created from the search:

A single resource for finding the best art from the best public domain resources in the world with one comprehensive, vetted, and continuously updated list. This is the . . .

»»» Master List of Art Resources in the Public Domain.

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Why is this list a big deal? »»» Legality, Money, and Time

• Legality. When I select artwork, I do so as an artist. But when I selected resources for the list, I did so as an attorney—carefully evaluating resources for compliance with copyright laws and risk of infringement. In my professional experience, most infringement is unintentional, but even Pulitzer-level writing will lose potency and credibility when presented alongside unsourced artwork or images protected by copyright. But most of all, compliance with copyright law matters because art matters and artists matter. They deserve all due respect, attribution, and payment for their work.

• Money. The vast majority of the world’s best artwork is in the public domain and therefore absolutely free and immediately available for anyone to use, copy, change, download, screenshot, use in a Substack article, post, print, frame, and hang on your wall. The trick is finding it and verifying it as public domain. That takes time, and time is money.

• Time. To create this Master List, I canvased literally hundreds of resources for public domain art. I then identified the best collections, evaluated the content of each database, assessed the quality of digital images, tested search functions for ease-of-use and accurate results, documented every part of the process, selected the Top 20 resources, and provided detailed information specific to each resource to assist users (including myself) in navigating the list. That took a lot of time, but I will never have to do it again because I distilled all that time into the Master List.

»»» This is the MASTER LIST OF ART RESOURCES IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN—the list I originally created to save my own time, but now make available to all others in need of compelling, high-quality visuals for their work.

»»» THE MASTER LIST OF ART RESOURCES IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN

MUSEUMS

1. The Metropolitan Museum — Search “The Met Collection” under the “Art” tab and make sure the box for “Open Access” and “Artworks with Image” are checked to weed out extraneous results. The Met Collection renders high-quality results with well-designed search functions; excellent original source.

2. Städel Museum — Go to the “Digital Collection,” enter your keywords in the search, then filter for “Show only works for download” to view PD records. The Frankfurt-based Städel is one of the best resources in Europe.

3. Art Institute of Chicago — Search the “Collection,” find “Show Only” in the filters, then “Public Domain.” One of my personal favorites; excellent database and search design.

4. Rijksmuseum — This Dutch museum would be my favorite European resource if it included a PD filter in its high-level search. Unfortunately, it does not, so the best way to filter for public domain images from the “Collections” page is to click the “Search Options” filter button and click “Only with image.” The cheat code from here is to look for images that can be downloaded directly from the website. Only those are in the public domain pursuant to the Rijksmuseum open access data policy.

5. National Gallery of Art — Go to the “Artworks search” bar (under the Art & Artworks tab) and make sure the box for “Image Download Available” is checked. Some of the best artwork held in the U.S. is here. Huge database.

6. Smithsonian — Using this link, type your keywords into the search bar and make sure the box “Free to use (CC0)” is checked to obtain PD results only. This tab includes all Smithsonian museums, so you will want to filter down further by gallery or resource type to isolate desired images.

7. Statens Museum for Kunst — SMK is another Dutch museum with rich Open Access results. This link takes you directly to the PD search without additional filters, but make sure the box “For free use” is checked before you begin searching.

8. Yale Center for British Art — The link takes you directly to the public domain collection with the “free to use” filter. So many gorgeous pieces (and not just from Great Britain.)

9. NASA — Nasa images used for educational or informational purposes are available as governmental records; a more limited type of public record. The image gallery is vast. The telescopic images are epic.

10. Library of Congress — Not the best source for fine art, but includes a broad category of PD images. This link takes you directly to the “free to use” search.

11. Minneapolis Institute of Art — MIA has an impressive collection of PD work, but its search function is a little clunky. From the collection search page type in the key word and click the “Rights” tab, then click “Public Domain.”

12. The Cleveland Museum of Art — Click the “Open Access” button to filter for PD only images.

13. Emily Dickinson’s Herbarium — This is a bonus item for Emily Dickinson lovers or lovers of vintage botanicals. The Harvard Library hosts high quality digital images of Emily’s complete herbarium. All in the public domain.

COMMERCIAL RESOURCES

These resources are not museums and do not generally own or hold original artwork. Rather, these commercial online sources host reproductions of public domain work in varying digital quality (along with various for-profit offerings). I prefer to obtain images directly from the original, non-commercial source, but I use these resources liberally as a starting point, to locate pieces that are more difficult to find, and to save time searching over multiple original sources. Use with caution, check your results before you publish, and attribute the original source where possible.

14. Europeana — This is a primary commercial PD aggregator dedicated to artwork, and it has a massive database. Many of the museums I did not include above (notably top European collectors, including most French museums) are canvassed by Europeana and make searching PD artwork over multiple institutions much easier. Europeana’s search design is simple. From the collections search page linked above, narrow the subject to one of the subject bubbles; then on the right-hand side under the question “Can I use this?” select “Yes.” Do not select “Yes, with conditions” or “Maybe.” Only the answer “Yes” will render PD images. But from there, you have access to millions of stunning pieces.

15. Museo — This is the Gen Z version of Europeana with more modest data. But it’s still one of my favorite resources and where I like to start for a general search. Museo’s dataset is not as good as Europeana (so far) but I love its cheeky minimalist design, and the search engine runs on natural word searches with rapid results and eliminated white space. However, not every image in Museo is PD, and there is no PD filter or advanced searching. Based on my search experience, close to 95% of the results are PD, but they have to be confirmed on a case-by-case basis. So why is Museo still one of my favorites? Two reasons: 1) every image is linked to a source page which eliminates the work of sourcing; 2) it eliminates all the extra time finding and attributing artwork to the original source; and 3) I always recommend confirming PD status with the original source anyway.

16. Flickr, Getty, Rawpixel, Picryl, Pexels — I’m cheating by putting these five sites together as one resource, but they are essentially the same. They have widely varying data but are similarly situated as secondary commercial sources of PD images. Each contains a significant amount of PD images and the link for each one should take you to the search pages filtered for PD-only results. However, use extra caution here. These are not original sources and definitely trying to sell you something. However, they contain PD you can’t find elsewhere, such as modern images, photography, illustrations, pop-art, magazine covers, and work designated as PD by the artist. The volume here can be overwhelming; the quality not always great; and sourcing can be a chore. Most require an account and some restrict results unless you upgrade.

ONLINE BLOGS / PUBLICATIONS

17. The Public Domain Review — Who knew there was an entire online publication dedicated to stuff in the public domain. The Public Domain Review opens with vintage typeface and offers numerous curated PD collections, including forgotten and over-looked artists from the past. The Review features essays highlighting works in the public domain published every two weeks. I really love this website. I initially included it just as a resource for PD images, but the real value is in the breadth of topical coverage, the quality articles, and the seriously impressive scope of PD sources (236) underlying its online collections.

18. A Home Is Announced — This website is not an original source, but I include it here because it maintains a gorgeous collection of PD artwork and PD print-shop. While intended for home decor/design, the images are organized by landscape, still life, animals, abstract & modern art, portraits, and illustrations. I use this resource often, and if I decide to print something at some point, I’ll start here.

19. The Marginalian — If I had to choose only one newsletter for the rest of my life, it would be the Marginalian (fka Brain Pickings). I’m cheating a little by placing it in the list, but it’s for a very good cause. This bi-weekly publication’s marriage of visual art and writing is unmatched. Maria Popova—one of the most captivating, eloquent, and intelligent writers that ever lived—is a lover of language, but week after week, it’s the way her visuals illuminate each carefully-written essay that sets her work apart. Everything about the Marginalian is flawless and necessary. It’s the bona fide OG of the Substack format and required reading for artists, science-minded mystics, life-long seekers of truth and meaning, and Substack writers like me.

20. GENRE: I am currently building my own curated collection of the most evocative, compelling, and unexpected artwork. I will be publishing the entire collection soon. Stay tuned.

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»»» IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT COPYRIGHT LAW AND PUBLIC DOMAIN

Because international copyright laws are more swirly than a Van Gogh, a basic understanding of copyright structures will assist you in navigating the Master List and save you time. This section provides a basic outline of the legal landscape.

For most copyright structures, there a baseline rule and a big exception. Here is the baseline rule:

Unless you made it from scratch, most art is off-limits.

In general, works of art cannot be copied, used, or republished under state, federal, and international copyright laws governing the ownership and use of intellectual property. The existence of a copyright means you have no “right” to “copy” someone else’s artwork except as permitted by the owner (purchase, license, etc.). Also, while many countries protect intellectual property under similar laws and systems, they are not the same. For this reason, the copyright status of artwork published online is often confusing and conflicting.

The Exception: Artwork in the public domain is fair game.

Determining whether a particular work of art has entered the public domain depends on the law of its governing country. However, once a work of art is deemed public domain, the result is generally the same. It may be viewed, copied, changed, downloaded, screenshot, and reproduced freely. Theoretically, public domain art belongs to humanity as a whole, but practically, you can treat public domain work as your own. This is very good news for writers—especially for those who publish short-form material (e.g., Substack, personal blogs, social media) and rely on compelling visuals to captivate the reader and enliven the written work. For GENRE: I use a mix of my own artwork and my own ever-evolving compendium curated directly from the Master List.

»»» DANGER ZONES OF SEARCHING FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ART ONLINE

Be cognizant of these danger zones as you search for art online and use the Master List.

1. Google, ChatGPT, Pinterest, and other leading search engines are terrible resources for public domain artwork.

General search engines should not be trusted to provide reliable information—especially AI-powered searches. For a classic example of “garbage in, garbage out,” I asked AI to confirm the public domain status of this famous Hilma af Klint piece, resulting in the response: “Sure! Here are ten websites using the image.” Great! It must be okay. Yes? . . . No. It’s not okay. Under Swedish law, most of Hilma af Klint’s work is under copyright protection and off-limits. This one of the many reasons I created the Master List because we think we are saving time using the big search engines, but we are not.

2. Each online resource is different.

Creative Commons (CC) is an international nonprofit organization that works with institutions around the world to make public domain work shareable, identifiable, and accessible. But even when searching a participating CC0 resource, the database is often pulling from both PD and non-PD collections and requires an additional filter for PD-only results. This is why I supplemented the Master List with specific information to filter for PD results.

3. Just because artwork is “old” or widely known does not mean it’s in the public domain.

The public domain exception is not always straight-forward. It depends on the governing law for the piece and every jurisdiction has differing timelines and variables. This is one of the reasons I do not recommend attempting to “do the math” yourself, use a blanket 100-year rule, or guesstimate. Stick with resources participating with CC0 or otherwise vetted for reliable PD results like the ones included in the Master List.

4. Source the art in your work, s’il vous plaît.

While most museums and original sources of PD artwork request attribution of images used in your work, it’s also a matter of artistic respect. Full sourcing also elevates the legitimacy and credibility of your work. Where possible, I recommend including Artist Name, Name of Work, Date of Work, Country of Origin, and Original Source (holding museum, foundation, etc.), along with a link to the original source image.

»»» POSSIBLE SIDE-EFFECTS WHEN USING THE MASTER LIST

I hope this Master List resource is as helpful to you as it has been for me. But fair warning: using the list could result in being held captive for hours or even weeks under the spell of Whistler or Matisse or another long-forgotten artist. And even if the spell disrupts your plans, it will be worth it. Time spent in the presence of good art is never a waste, and you’ll end up with so much more than content for your work. The art will become a part of you; it will speak through your work and enliven your words as if the original artist has come back to life.

»»» Do you have a resource that belongs on this list? If so, please comment below or send it to me via email (beth@lionalaw.com) or the GENRE: chat!

»»» If you have questions about the Master List—including how to use it, verify your results, or other concerns about copyright or intellectual property law—please email me at beth@lionalaw.com. I love using my legal experience to support fellow writers, artists, and creators in their work.

I was also sad because it seemed to me that 90% of Notes that “work” (rank high on engagement) are the kinds of Notes I abhor—gimmicky, manipulative, playbook, cheap, templated—while the other 10% seemed to have no rhyme or reason to account for their individually stellar performance.

After a while, the “Notes” feed started to make me feel exactly like I felt during my infamous last days on Instagram, when spending 5 minutes online made me want to run out of my office yelling “TSUNAMI” and “BUDDHISM”1!!!! My meltdown was precisely as depicted here by the great Parker Posey—sans the Seinfeld-esq puffy shirt.

«« This GIF will never get old. Parker Posey forever. If you could watch this 113 times, you are my people. If you know all the words to “Teacher’s Pet” you are 110% my people. »»

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For a while there, and because I’m still detoxing from social media and success obsession, I wanted to just pack everything up and move to . . .

. . . Oh right, there’s nowhere else to go!

It’s a Substack world, and I choose to embrace it. But I do not choose to waste my time or lose my mind. And despite the fact that I really wanted to just ignore my Notes problem, I knew I needed to slow down and take a closer look before I declared Notes, and therefore, Substack a failure.

I approached this problem systematically by reading as much as I could find, taking copious notes, analyzing my work against the data, and making lists of major themes. The three lists I compiled were:

1. What I was doing “wrong” and why

2. What others are doing “right” and why

3. What I am doing “right” and why2

I have now completed the first part of this project and extrapolated the data.

»»» Here are My Top 15 “Notes” Mistakes, along with select examples, a handy one-pager you can save, and bonus writing prompts for you to use in crafting your Notes. Enjoy!

1. BEING BORING

Here’s the irony of this being my first and foremost mistake. I have never, over the course of my entire life, been bored. Not a once. And that includes all my homeschool years in 1980s rural Kansas as a kid and the thousands of hours I’ve spent reading deposition transcripts as an adult.3 At all times, there are 150 or so ideas cracking through my cerebral synapses, and I consider boring you, or anyone else, a crime.

Well—the jury is out on my early Note offerings, and I am guilty of being boring. Geez. Here are some examples of my criminal behavior from Week-1 Notes:

• “Hi, I wrote a piece about . . .” BORING! Really? I am speaking to an audience of writers that are deeply creative and inherently inspired by art and beauty and complexity, and here I am informing them I have written something? How interesting! How unique! How spectacularly boring!

• “I’m new to Substack and . . .” BORING! No one cares. Why should they? I can’t believe I honestly thought this tidbit of information was helpful in any way. I’ve done the research and the numbers of people flocking to Substack is staggering. And it’s no wonder. Just like me, they’re running from the other social media platforms, screaming “TSUNAMI” and “Piperrrrr, noooooooooo.” Because over on those platform, there is an actual Tsunami! So it’s great that we’re all here now, but that lone fact is patently uninteresting.

I do have to acknowledge one thing before we move on. You may read that some Substack newbies went viral and gained one billion new subscribers with a single introductory Note, starting with the exact words I called a crime: “I’m new to Substack and . . .” I don’t want to, but I must disabuse you of the notion that these words could work for you because it’s provable pie-in-the-sky. “I’m new here” virality hit exactly 4 substackers out of 400,000,4 and it’s never happening again. That shipped sailed. It escaped the Tsunami.5 It’s a new world now.

That won’t stop us from trying though. I did it. I committed the crime of boring people by telling them I’m new here, and for that, I sincerely apologize. (I don’t know who I am apologizing to since no one read my Note, but I apologize nonetheless.)

Writing Prompt #1

»»» Handwrite an idea for a Note on paper; take a pen and cross out all the boring parts: (“I just came on here to say . . .”) (“I would like to share something that . . .”).

2. RESTACKING MY OWN WORDS FROM THE ESSAY I JUST WROTE

This is another one of my early mistakes. And it’s easy to see why. Substack makes it incredibly convenient to restack a snippet from any piece—yours or someone else’s—and drop it in the Notes with some other commentary. And because I am sincerely lit up by my own work, and I can visually imagine releasing my own words into the Notosphere to take flight like a small flock of doves, it feels so very enticing just to highlight those words, tap the restack button, add an blurb, and let them go with arms and hearts wide open.

But here’s what I learned. No one wants to read what I wrote in my article. No one.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think you can take that one to the Substack bank. Unless the sentence I restacked from my own work is the most tantalizing, earth-shattering sentence the reader has seen all year, they will not be reading my Note, and they sure as shit won’t be clicking to read the full essay.

Here’s my rule. I only restack other writers words. And there’s PLENTY of beautiful work waiting to be released into the wide open arms and hearts of the Substack Notosphere.

3. POSTING PARAGRAPHS

I wish this was not a Notes “mistake” because it sure seems like one million writers might want to read a paragraph. But apparently not. People reading Notes want sentences followed by space and then maybe another sentence followed by more space but maybe not. Notes favors the pithy.

I’d like to fight this one. I’d like to suggest that actual paragraphs can be read, understood, and commented upon, but the research suggests otherwise. Basically, what Notes is telling us about paragraphs is to keep that shit at home where it belongs (on your Substack).

4. DOING WHAT THE OTHERS ARE DOING

Scrolling through the feed to see what’s working for other people is not super helpful. Remember what I said at the beginning—90% of what we are seeing (especially as a newbie) is gimmicky and the other 10% makes no sense. Studying and copying this stuff is not worth the investment of time. Now, this does not mean that patterns and governing principles are irrelevant, which is why I am currently enrolled in the Notes Boost Challenge with . More on that later.

For now, here’s the main thing I learned by trying to follow the “proven trends” proffered by the marketing gurus that are “guaranteed to boost your engagement”—they only work if you want to be a marketing guru spending your whole life selling ways to sell things.

This reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld and the puffy shirt. The puffy shirt was a great idea for a pirate, but Jerry never wanted to be a pirate. He wanted to tell jokes. That pretty much sums up how I feel about the trends.

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Writing Prompt #2

»»» Assuming you don’t want to be a pirate, who do you want to be? What is it you want The Most? It’s easy to get distracted on here. If you asked Jerry, he would say: “At the end of the day, I really just want to write jokes and tell jokes.” What is your “end of the day” desire?

5. BEING RANDOM

This one is obvious, right? Well, it wasn’t to me! Still isn’t. What is random?

On the one hand, I get it. Randomness is what Threads, Twitter,6 and all the other extremely short form apps are for. Random thoughts and reflections don’t belong on Notes and won’t serve your Substack. I agree.

On your Substack, you are working thousands of hours (for free) building a world big and beautiful enough to house your creative genius and serve Your People. So, I agree that topicality matters. Generally good advice is to stick to producing and responding to Notes that relate to your Substack.

But again, what is random? Here’s my problem: on the one hand, my Substack is still exploring its new identity, and on the other hand, everything is connected. All I am saying is, I agree randomness is a technical Notes violation, but it’s a Class E Misdemeanor, if that. I will likely continue to struggle here and do not apologize for past bad acts.

6. POSTING SOMETHING JUST TO POST SOMETHING

Like, why even bother!

7. POSTING WITHOUT INTENTION AND DUE CONSIDERATION

This one is closely related to the two prior mistakes, but it’s different. It’s pretty obvious why posting something just to post something is a colossal waste of time (and integrity), but I’ve posted Notes that in the moment seemed relevant (I think), thoughtful (I guess), helpful (sort of), resonant (maybe). But when I looked back on these Notes, they didn’t age well.

Actually, they didn’t age at all. No one read them because I did not take the time to communicate with the intention and depth I apply to my work. That doesn’t mean I should write a paragraph (see above), but it does mean I should take as many beats as necessary to make sure what I am saying really means something to me and really matters. There’s enough junk out there as it is. Even when unintentional, it’s a crime to add more junk. That’s how we end up with Tsunamis.7

8. NOT BEING MYSELF

Any time I try to come across as anything I am not, my Notes flop. This is as it should be, but I’m rarely aware of it in the moment.

Let me give you an example. In my early days of Notes engagement, I would not let myself be funny. I write about serious topics and hope to be taken seriously as a literary writer, memoirist, and creative. The thing is, I take my mission and my work very seriously, but I am actually not that serious of a person. I love wit, humor, and ugly cry laughing. In fact, I’m ridiculous, and I like that about myself whether it’s on-brand or not. I guess I was worried that if I let myself be as ridiculous as I am, I would jeopardize . . . something?

This is what I know:

• Any time I am trying to come across as funnier, smarter, or more interesting than I actually am—I am not being myself.

• Any time I am trying to be less funny, less smart, or less interesting than I actually am—I am not being myself.

• Any time I am not being myself on Notes, it shows. People may not mark the deviations, but they always spot the “trying.”

I just need to be who I am (smart and ridiculous, focused and random, creative and practical) and stop worrying about whether parts of my extra-curricular personhood leak into the margins. Let ‘em.

Writing Prompt #3

»»» Look over your past ten Notes and ask yourself whether you are being yourself or holding back. Document your findings. What’s the “you-est” you of the bunch? Do more of that.

9. POSTING MY NOTE AND IGNORING ALL OTHERS

Hello!? Why would anyone read my stuff if I don’t read theirs? The genius of Substack is reciprocity. And this is how it should be. But there is something far more important here than quid pro quo: how am I going to find my people—my Substack community—if I don’t go and find them?

The primary reason I am on Notes is to find my people. That’s why I want people to read my Notes—not because my Note will change their lives, but so they can see something they recognize. Through Notes, I am making myself findable. But, I consider it my job to do the finding. I do not believe in spending hundreds of hours creating for myself and my people only to sit around in a passive state of waiting to be found. And it ain’t gonna happen if I toil away for hours, come up for two seconds of air to post a Note, and go back under.

10. POSTING ON A RIGID SCHEDULE OR CHECK-THE-BOX CONTENT FORMULA

I tried this for exactly two days. The results were poor. It caused me to make the mistakes noted here, such as posting just to post and being boring and wearing puffy shirts. I am beta testing other ways to stay organized and intentional, and I’ll let you know how it goes.

11. POSTING SPORADICALLY WITH ZERO SCHEDULE OR PLANNING

This is the opposite extreme of the rigid schedule—both extremes are problematic. This one led to other mistakes, like randomness and lack of intentionality in my posts.

12. CONFUSING NOTES WITH INSTAGRAM OR LINKEDIN OR THREADS OR . . . .

Notes has a more refined aesthetic, which is why most of us are here, but the other places (the ones we just fled from) trained me to pretty myself up while watering myself down. Neither of these activities are required or even helpful for Notes. There will always be exceptions, but for the most part:

• Notes does not do shallow. Pithy, yes. Witty, yes. Snark, no. Vapid, no.

• Notes does not award special points for cuteness unless you are an animal.

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13. TREATING NOTES AS LESS IMPORTANT THAN SUBSTACK

Notes are really important, which is why I spent all this time studying them and enrolled in this challenge. Whether I like it or not, this is where I will find most of My People. So, for now at least, it’s not less important than my Substack.

Now some will say Notes is more important than your Substack, but we know that is ludicrous unless your Substack is designed to perform as an online sales engine. Mine is not. There are no sales and no engines. If my Substack is trash, what’s the point?

Writing Prompt #4

»»» Describe your perfect friend hang. Where are you, what are doing, are there snacks? Looking for these things on your Notes feed might help you find Your People and Your People find you.

15. POSTING SOMETHING I DON’T GENUINELY AND THOROUGHLY LOVE BECAUSE I KNOW IT WILL “WORK”

This gets to the heart of the 90% of Notes I abhor as manipulative, playbook, cheap, gimmicky, and templated. We all see the trends, and we all see the results.

“Wow, 141 comments and 567 likes,” I said at first. Until I realized it’s classic playbook, it’s all the same thing, and it does not appear to serve the beneficent purpose it purports to serve. But it looks very impressive. And alluring. I will not judge you if you post one of these. It is a crime, but it’s kind of like speeding. It’s really hard not to drive 15 over when everyone else is zooming past.

For me at least, the pull is strong, but I recognize the source of the pull as the darkside, not the force. I’m happy to say I haven’t gone to the darkside, but I’ve had some close calls.

15. NOT POSTING SOMETHING I GENUINELY AND THOROUGHLY LOVE BECAUSE I KNOW IT WON’T “WORK”

This is the counterpoint to the prior mistake. In the same way that not everything that “works” should be pursued—not everything that “doesn’t work” should be abandoned. Why?

Because not everything has! to! work! Geez. This one is my achilles heel. For this reason, this is my daily reminder:

It’s okay—strike that—it’s necessary to post things I genuinely and thoroughly love if I genuinely and thoroughly love them.

Not everything should work. Not everything is about engagement. Not everything is about selling puffy shirts to all the pirates and all the non-pirates.8 My People will find me here even if 9/10 of the things I post “don’t work” as long as I genuinely and thoroughly love my posts. It will be that 10th thing they see and something will “click” in a satisfying way like the snap of tiny magnets. They’ll go “huh, she seems cool.” And then later on we’ll chat about how we found each other on Notes.

That’s the point of this article. It’s not really about “mistakes,” or Tsunamis or pirates—it’s about clearing the path so we can find Our People.

»»» Stay Tuned for the next segment in this series: what I and others are doing “right” in Notes. In the meantime, here is a handy one-pager for you to to save »»»