Choose your own adventure.

There’s plenty to fuel our collective rage-filled creative content.

If you write or create best in isolation (quarantine or capital I–introvert), you are in good company. One way or another, we are all documenting pieces of this completely odd moment in our collective lives, witnessing, and experiencing one global crisis after another.

Stuck at home or forced to brave it as an essential worker, our collective rage is rising. We are each like a dancing toaster filled with pink mood slime, oozing with feelings, and motivated to move by anger with every passing injustice.

All this pent up anger has to go somewhere. Your roommates or partner have likely heard enough. The kids are tuning you out while they ask for another snack. Friends and colleagues are sick of HouseParty happy hours. Coworkers are sick of zoom…To the internet!

When channeling your rage into words for the world and web, there are a few things to consider.

Rules of the Rage 📌✉️📝📓📰📱📟

Watch your language.

• Spell check. Did autocorrect screw you?
• Are you using the right terminology? Check out this guide for inclusive, empowering language.
• F-bombs are necessary. Take it from a New Yorker. Rage=swears. But, does it distract from your point?
• Don’t worry if it’s been said before…attribute quotes and link when possible. If you are still mad enough to share, odds are someone else is too.
• Use art, visuals, gifs, and tweets (as used in this post), to make your point, or break up a long-form rant.

Consider others.

If you have an editor, colleague, or friend to review, have them remind you who you may offend. Your rage may be justified; your points based on facts; your references linked. Does that mean you should share it? Maybe.

• What type of ally are you being? Are you writing to help or to be heard?
• Consider your fam. If you are interrupted often, your best time to rage write may be 2 am.
• Remember you’re not alone. Do others share in your rage?
• Unless you truly don’t care, try not to alienate everyone who supports you.
• Does your ranting help more than it hurts?
• Are you trying to win the award for most outraged?

Remember everyone in America is dealing with their own nightmare. You are entitled to your feelings, but your job is to channel your rage for the benefit of others. As Amélie Lamont says in her Guide to Allyship, there are no winners and no gold medals in the “Oppression Olympics.” 🏅

Marginalized people, especially Black Americans, don’t need competition; they need our support. For me, that does mean staying angry and writing, over complacency and silence. It also means using my White privilege to repeat the screams of others who are often dismissed or ignored.

Overall, be conscious and respectful of others. But, when taking a stand, you won’t make everyone happy. As a wise friend said– “if you’re making art and it’s not pissing someone off, what’s the point?”

Choosing your subject 😖🤬🤯😡

After a day in sweatpants, not getting work done, simply scroll through your feed: inspiration may strike.

What is today’s rage du jour? What dumpster fire grabs your attention first? What cause do you lend your voice to? Do you rage a bit on each injustice daily or go all-in on one subject? A quick glance at the news is all you’ll need to get those juices flowing.

Hint: It often ties back to one person, and smells like a mix between orange skin tanner, a toupee, and a fading democracy. (See, you can’t make everyone happy!)

Still unsure? I’ll give you a topic: A global pandemic, vanishing gender equality, widespread racism, continued murders of Black people by White supremacists, an economy that doesn’t know if it’s up or down, a failing school system, rising debt, voter suppression, online harassment and hate speech unfettered, continued violence against women, targeting of LGBTQIA people, unemployment at 40 million, the choice to vote for one of two older White men in November (when we had amazing, talented, viable non-White old men candidates left behind), elections being rigged by money, big businesses getting more bale outs than small ones…

Rage-posts: How many have you written in the past 3 months? 3 days? 3 hours? 🤦🏻‍♀

• Emailed passive-aggressive advice unsolicited feedback to a coworker.
• Texted to a family member while debating from opposite sides of a political chasm.
• Posted a WTF on social media in the middle of the night.
• Wrote angrily in a journal just to get it out till your fingers hurt.
• Carefully crafted Instagram post using all 2200 characters and 30 hashtags.
• Scrawled f-bomb on a sticky and put it on your screen to remind you of your rage.
• Long-form Medium article that goes up so fast, you’re unsure if you’ve truly absorbed what you said (the urgency felt real) until you read it a few days later.

Whatever your preferred platform, length of diatribe, publication, or tool, consider your end goal before hitting publish or post. Rage (likely stemming from the President’s latest tweet) led you to write furiously. So take a beat, or sleep on it.

What and how you share is ultimately up to you. And NOT giving it your energy is also an option.

Fire-Breathing Rage 🔥

Feelings of anger, rage, sadness, and frustration fill my mind and body so much, I often feel flooded; my adrenaline pumping.

I cannot make anyone feel the pain of all marginalized Americans, particularly Black Americans. I write with zero authority on that subject. The intensity of fear or struggle is nothing compared to people experiencing real trauma, but the rage I feel is relatable.

Much like the 45th President on Twitter, for me “Rage Writing” has become a daily habit. I’m up till 3 am typing long-form rants that meander and repeat. Some 7,500 words later, oops I did it again. Words can’t come out fast enough.

As a researcher, I prefer rants backed up with links showing truth, facts, and data. Democrats have been using rational fact-based arguments, and they are getting us nowhere. Data and facts do little to change hearts and minds. The POTUS basically deemed the truth one of his enemies.

Yet progressive writers keep at it–because anger and justice compel us.

“I write similar things about different black lives lost over and over and over. I tell myself I am done with this subject. Then something so horrific happens that I know I must say something, even though I know that the people who truly need to be moved are immovable.”–Roxanne Gay, NYT “No one is coming to save us.”

As writers, our job is to make readers feel, then feel motivated enough to act. How can we create the same sense of urgency with words in a tweet or post that we do at a march with a 3-word sign or chant?

We can’t produce the same urgency on paper as in person, but we can still try.

“Rage Against the Machine” rage

Motivation to write can come from just about anywhere for a creative, passionate, writer like you. (Maybe motivate to shower more often.)

Now that you are ready to write, why are you sharing widely? What motivates you to post your word vomit for all to read? 😖🤮

1. Do you rage to stop the tears, educate or connect with others?

Sometimes rage writing follows a breakup. It can follow another school shooting. Sometimes moms write with rage simply because we cannot believe we are still stuck inside with the same damn people (80+ days and someone please tell me, when will quarantine end?!)

Sometimes feminist writers rage against the patriarchy, practically screaming to readers: Why won’t you listen? We told you the house is on fire!!

I write to connect and to have one iota of control. It’s my way to gather all my pent up rage, sadness, fear, and to tell others:

“I feel it too.” We are not alone.

-OR-

2. Do you rage to fill the time, distract, or take up space?

Sometimes a rage-tweet follows a threat to your machismo. Ideas come flying out because you are a sore loser, calling others “loser.” You write with no remorse or conscience.

Sometimes your rage is indignant. Your words indicate you have no clue what it means to be the President of the United States.

You are one motivated content creator and you can’t let a minute go by without someone speaking your name. Maybe you’re a politician who craves attention and loves shock value?

You are skilled at drawing attention with your inflammatory words about Black people or immigrants or the “Radical Left” or women. Sometimes you do it to say “look over here,” while making yet another HUGE mistake or worse, doing something illegal.

Either way, am I right? (👈🏻 sarcasm)

Quick Tip: If you are looking to win people over or sound reasonable, do NOT write like Trump. Your words will do more harm than good.

The goal is to do good!

Reasonable rage

Hopefully, you’re mainly driven by a rational motivation to speak up. Reasonable anger: an injustice has been done; you’ve been harmed by prejudice; your life is in danger. Unreasonable: you can’t get a hair cut.

How can you tell if that tweet is worth it or that article needs writing? Are you stoking fire or trying to extinguish it? Are you trying to educate or trying to alienate?

If your rage is motivated by human rights violations, a threat to human survival, gross inequities in social or economic status, people dying, or sexual violence, your rage is grounded in empathy. You care about other people and the planet so proceed with the post.

If you can honestly say you are not inciting more violence, hate or pain, by all means, carry on.

But remember we cannot only write our way through to the election. Manners and precedents will not save our democracy.

White people, and those trying to work within the system, were raised to be polite and measured. Yet, those same manners, rules, and systems do not apply to dictators. Trump doesn’t respect the system, so why do we?

Until last week, most White people who feared Trump only objected to him from the safety of our homes; that is what privilege looks like. I am not alone when I thought (with Trump’s every illegal move in the news), why aren’t we all flooding the streets daily?

After the inauguration, we couldn’t fathom how life went on as usual; then we went to Starbucks.

It took the entire Black community marching and shouting (after losing 3 more Black lives and counting, and even more from the pandemic), for us to get out and stand up for our rights.

Look at how much got accomplished in 10 days of repeated protests. We must all sustain this level of outrage again and again. And we must do it not to add to the vitriol but to fuel the good.

So, by all means, rage the day away, but maybe not always from the comfort of your couch. We need to take the rage outside and put it to good use. If we play by the system, it looks like our votes may not be counted.

Jaw-Dropping Rage

Seeing all these acts of violence, inequities, COVID19 deaths, censorship, and voter suppression would make anyone’s jaw drop. What should you do?

You’re practically on fire, you’re so mad; the rage is literally making you shake. You could write a thesis, but there’s no time to waste. People need to hear from you NOW.

You need to be measured in your response. What words sum up how you feel and what phrase would make the biggest impact? You’re also smart.

No middle of the night Twitter rants for you. No reposts or forwards, using someone else’s rage by proxy.

You must refine your rage; edit it down to its essence.

You take a moment to feel it, to channel the rising tide of anger. Only then can you distill it down to a simple phrase. One last note, a final FU. And with all the rage, but also all the love in your heart, you write three simple words, so big they can be seen from freaking space.

Black Lives Matter.