Bummed about the end of an era?

Hi everyone! I come with an encouraging message!

If you’re bummed at the implications that a “loose ends wrap-up” / “epilogue” / “limited series” means the beginning of the end, you’re not alone. Something you love is changing in a way you don’t understand, and you’ve loved it so hard (and sometimes for so long) that you’re not sure how to feel. You knew nothing lasts forever, and you also didn’t want to think about it. On top of that, you still know so little about what’s going to happen and you just want to spend more time in this world with these characters.

First: Please don’t accept the snide comments you’re going to get because you care about this. It’s very insensitive and even cruel for people to bleat IT’S JUST A TV SHOW or accuse you of being inappropriately invested. This matters to you and it should, so don’t allow the shame people will dish out to make a home in your heart and make you feel silly for your love. You love this because it’s a good story. People love good stories. We live for stories and we make our own stories as we live. Our past is defined by them and our future is inspired by them.

What about the present?

Take that love (and sorrow) that you might feel, and translate it into something that also matters. Think about what this show has done for you and made you feel (and will still make you feel as an indeterminate amount of unconsumed content still exists to be shared with us!). Think about what makes you love a story, what makes you care about characters, and what you still need that you haven’t received–that you want the next generation to grow up hearing.

And make some art.

If you’re an artist, a writer, a musician–focus on what you can make. Even if you’re not any of those things (or don’t ever plan to be one in a professional capacity), use this love you feel to MAKE STUFF. If you have a project you haven’t worked on for a long time, revisit it! Even if you just do ukulele covers on YouTube on your non-monetized channel, or draw sketchy fan comics, or write AU fanfic, or use the lessons in this show to write anything from thinkpieces on your blog to encouraging social media comments for your online friends. This matters, and you have something to say too. Even if it’s not to a large audience. Even if it matters only to a few. What matters is mattering.

If you aspire to “one day” work on a show like SU, or have no interest in such things but want to write stories, make music, create visual art … think about the last thing you really thought might go somewhere, and use this as fuel to MAKE STUFF. Make stuff!

Put more joy in the world. Provide those connections that we all live for. Start a webcomic (I do a couple). Make some cute stickers or buttons to give out at your next event. Collaborate on a story with your friend or spouse or child. Answer an ad for voice talent for someone’s unpaid web show. Audition for a play. Make a costume. Take an awesome photo and see where you can sell such things. Write a short story or a book. Make the next thing that will matter.

(And if you’re dealing with complicated feelings at the moment and it’s just not a good time, I don’t mean force it out. I just want to inspire you to action when you can handle it.)

I don’t talk about my life outside of fandom that much here because playing around with cartoon stuff here was meant to be a break from all of that, so I won’t go into detail, but I can tell you a little bit from experience about being a creator whose work has mattered.

I sold my first book a handful of years ago and have received hundreds of personal letters from strangers about the ways in which my work has mattered. It was a little overwhelming for a while because I kept saying yes to things–you have to say yes when they ask or they might not ask again is what I figured, so for a nice chunk of time there I was saying yes to just about every interview, accepting speaking requests, attending award things, g off on excerpt reprints, watching good news about the paperback deal and the audio deal and even (recently) my first translated edition. I was tired. I’m still tired. I’ve learned some things about self care, but part of that has been about enjoying my favorite show and becoming immersed as a consumer instead of a creator.

Because I can’t stop being me, I still ended up doing a lot of creation–amateur art, analysis, making recipes, covering songs, making fan comics–but it was still as a fan, not as the person at the helm of the whole thing.

And one of the things I have to it is that my involvement with SU has “taken” some of my time that I could have been using to create. Nobody can be on all the time, and that’s one of the reasons I was happy to justify the time and energy I’ve been spending on it as a form of self-care–you have to enjoy others’ art if you expect to make your own. But also, as I’ve enjoyed it so, so much and become so enamored with everything about it, it’s reminded me all along how much I love being a creator and what I love about it. How satisfying it is to matter, to speak through art, to reach people who felt like nobody ever thought about them or heard them or knew them, and what a huge impact a creator can make just by making the work that also satisfies their soul.

I’ve got a couple projects in development, and anytime I might feel sad about lack of new content for my favorite thing, I’ll think about and work on the next book. I’ll how rewarding it has been to create content for a largely unseen queer audience and how much someone else might need my next message. I could end up being the voice someone desperately needed–like the voice that Steven Universe was for so many people, marginalized or not.

What YOU have to say is so important. Through stories and communication of so many sorts, you can be who you needed when you were younger, make connections, others and find meaning for yourself, even just provide entertainment (which is valuable far beyond just fun!).

Let this show leave a legacy through inspiring and encouraging you. Have fun, make connections, get serious–whatever it makes you want to do.

Imagine what could happen if you use how you feel to reach the next person who needs you and loves you.