EXPRESS YOURSELF

Write the Tale That Scares You

These words from Emmy Award winner Michaela Coel changed my perspective on creativity

Simone Keelah Brathwaite
Human Parts
Published in
4 min readOct 1, 2021

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BBC

Michaela Coel came for my entire soul in her Emmy speech.

Unlike the usual hats off to God and thank yous to mom, the I May Destroy You star had a message specifically for writers:

Write the tale that scares you, that makes you feel uncertain, that isn’t comfortable. I dare you. In a world that entices us to browse through the lives of others to help us better determine how we feel about ourselves, and to in turn feel the need to be constantly visible, for visibility these days seems to somehow equate to success — do not be afraid to disappear. From it. From us. For a while. And see what comes to you in the silence.

The message came at a time when I needed it most. After my first year of “putting myself out there” with my writing, I had started to hide, to cower. I felt dejected too many times from editors who ignored me like a hot boy on campus. I felt frustrated by friends who I felt were no longer supporting me as they did in my first days of publishing. I felt like I had nothing of substance to say. I felt very “woe is me.” And as a result, I went to other forms of joy — err, escape — than the paper.

Netflix didn’t care if I penned for the algorithm or my ideal audience.

Wine would allow me to divulge my most vulnerable heartaches without judgment.

And swiping left on an app was far less work than obsessing about an intro paragraph.

But this wasn’t the type of disappearing that Coel was encouraging us to do. And I knew it.

As a writer, it is easy to become cynical about our craft. I recently read a beautiful piece by a woman I follow about this particular platform and how screwy it’s become as writers prioritize the algorithm over the stories they ache to tell. Her words struck me as I thought about the times where I tried to replicate the “success” of a previous article that had performed well. Rarely did it work.

Yet, I also found that intention wasn’t everything when it comes to art. There are plenty of talented artists who have something…

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Simone Keelah Brathwaite
Human Parts

A self-proclaimed freedom chaser who writes about self-development, spirituality, relationships, & black folx thangs. Sign up for updates www.SimoneKeelah.com.