"What is it like?" they ask. So many people have asked me, "What is it like to go Viral on Social Media. So, below are the Good, Bad and Best things I have experienced:
#1 Worst Things about going Viral
You realize how bad you look and sound on video (“Really? Is that me?) Clearly, this has been a reality check and I think I would have preferred living in my delusion. And you realize just how cracked and in need of repair your driveway is. My goodness.
#1 Good Thing about going Viral
More people get to enjoy the gift God has given me, which has opened up great opportunities to meet new people and talk about truly, meaningful things and establish new relationships with people around the world who I would have never had the opportunity to have met had this not happened.
#1 Best Thing about going Viral
A woman who was grieving the loss of her mother; deeply depressed, and, who had lost all joy, wrote to me wanting to tell me what a difference that my art had made in her life. She told me that she saw my post while lying in bed with all the blinds closed—with no desire to get up and do anything; and, that for the first time, in a long time, she felt joy in her heart. She shared that it gave her the hope she needed to get through another day. She told me that the images that I had created in my driveway were some of her mother’s favorite things--and that I will never truly understand how much this has meant to her.
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Wow! For me, if that is all that comes out of this, it makes a life-long pursuit of artistic expression well worth it.
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P.S. For young artists who have contacted me wanting to know “how to go viral” (They so want to get their work out there, which is understandable) my advice to them (and really anyone) is: There is a reason the term “Starving Artist” exists. As wonderful as it would be to make a living at what you love to do, your motivation must be for a love of the process. If you get motivated by “money making” or fame, you will find that the joy of creating will turn to disappointment, bitterness, and discouragement. Just do what God has gifted you to do and “love the doing of it”.
My Facebook Page
Here is the Fox 8 Story behind it all:
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My Facebook Page
Here is the Fox 8 Story behind it all:
CLICK HERE
Comments
I didn’t find this interview until today. It was so nice to “see” you after all these years. I’ve always been a big fan- not just of your art, but of YOU.
How’s the driveway holding up? Is the artwork fading away?
I haven’t seen your posts lately. Hope all is well.
M