[and creatives in general]
I have been watching a lot of YouTubers for a while now and for two reasons: 1) Inspiration and 2) Motivation. The latter is because I hope to someday do what they do but in my own way and in my own time. That time hasn't come yet, but in the meantime, I wanted to share some of the channels I watch (religiously) and also direct you towards this page where I keep a living list of channels as I discover them and add them to my daily/weekly viewing hours.
I will say these are in no particular order as I truly watch their videos every time they come out with content.
He's probably one of the first YouTube channels I discovered that I actually will go back to his earlier videos and watch (or rewatch) them. At the beginning (over 10 years ago) he was releasing one video every Friday! Pretty ambitious. Then as he got into writing and releasing books he cut that back to one video every other Friday. He's an illustrator so you may be asking yourself, "what is a writer doing watching an illustrator for inspiration?" Well, that's simple, a lot of what he talks about while he's writing and the tips he imparts to his listeners are actually really helpful for writers and creatives. I learned a lot about storytelling, characters, world-building, and so much more from the hundreds of YouTube videos he's created over the last decade.
He is a junior doctor in the UK who has gone through many life changes in both his personal and his professional life. Truth be told, unlike Mark Crilley whom I discovered because of Adobe and a session they did Live on Twitch where he was an invited guest many years ago, I cannot tell you how I stumbled across this YouTube Channel. I think it may have something to do with my search on productivity apps or something to that effect? In any event, I'm glad I found him because I learn a lot from watching him that goes more into the personal aspect of my life as well as my business side. I want to have a "side" hustle that will eventually allow me to be my own boss and not be beholden to someone else or something else that takes me away from my passion. Watching his many weekly videos gives me the inspiration that if he can do it, I can do it. Now I just need to match my motivation to all the inspiration I have and maybe I can finally get started! But it's a work in progress and as long as he keeps spitting out content that inspires and teaches me, I'm sure I'll get there some day.
Oh, and he always gives great insight into various non-fiction books he's read over the years and is great and condensing them into bite-sized videos where you really learn some things. All of my current non-fiction purchases have come from Ali's recommendations and I have not regretted buying any of them.
For the tech side of my life I have many YouTubers who I watch but I mention Christopher above all the rest because even though he uses an iPad exclusively, I know that he genuinely uses it and he's not just making a purchase to film a video and return that item a month later. I also get a lot of helpful tips from him on organization and how to make filing (which has been a constant struggle for me all my life) a bit more manageable. He also reminds me just how useful an iPad Pro can be. Which I love because I do own an iPad Pro and I don't want it to go unloved or unused just because I find myself on my MacBook Pro 95% of the day.
I also love watching step-by-step processes and seeing them work out in the end for the better, don't you? I mean, the idea of using Shortcuts to make life easier is something I really want to master some day and I have a feeling when the switch flips in my brain and I uncover its magic, my life with technology will be infinitely better.
Chris Fox is known in many YouTube circles as many things both good and bad (depending on who you talk to). I watch his videos, honestly, for courage, as strange as that might sound. I realize how much flack he gets from his own community and from those outside of it because he is very transparent. And that transparency is one of the things that fellow writers don't like about him. This is not to start up a debate or choose sides, but I feel I must list him as a favorite because he just is. I hope that one day I will reach a point in my career where my skin is thick enough that I won't care what you think and I'll share what I know as transparently as possible (financially speaking) because somewhere out there will be someone just like me who will be glad that a woman of color did just that for her. The only way to know what's possible is to know the truth in black and white and if you don't like it or can't handle it? Well, then don't watch Chris Fox...
NEW CHANNELS I'VE BEEN WATCHING:
You will notice that the majority of my "favorites" whom I listed above are men. I honestly hadn't noticed that at all till I started to write this blog post. But something else I realized is my mind must have subconsciously realized this because almost all of the "new" channels I've been watching are all women and not only that, but women writers! So, I wanted to mention them here and when I revisit this list again next year we can see if any of these "honorable mentions" will graduate to my "favorites" list?
She is a traditionally published author. And a lot of her opinion I don't necessarily agree with. But I like her delivery and I appreciate her tenacity in wanting to fill that void in the writing community and YouTube community to share what she knows and how she knows it because there are others just like her who I am sure would prefer to go the traditional route and feel if you're not Stephen King or Brandon Sanderson then it just doesn't happen. I feel too many writers don't realize how much room is in the pie for those who aren't the big name authors but who do pretty well for themselves regardless. So I applaud what she's doing and also enjoy watching her success as her channel grows. Last I checked it surpassed the 100K subscriber mark which is pretty awesome!
I also watch her for research. I hope to some day have my own YouTube channel where I cover topics similar to hers but with my own opinion and from the shoes of an indie author as opposed to a traditional one. Of course, many of what she teaches and shares would never apply to me, but that's the beauty of the large and ever expanding space of YouTube. There is truly room for everyone.
A mixture of Live and uploaded videos, her content is...one I haven't quite been able to put my finger on and that's why I like her. She is what I think I will mostly look like when I start out. Figuring out what I want my channel to be, where I want it to go, who is my audience, what do I want to say? All great questions and they are all okay to be answering in the moment on your channel because it is growth. That's not to say that her content isn't good and worth watching, because it is, but I like watching someone who is figuring it out.
I also like how she brings in other people to her Live streams or her pre-recorded videos as well. An aspect I have been toying with incorporating in some way when I begin my YouTube journey.
Very popular and rather large YouTube personality who has recently started streaming Live on Twitch, which was how I first came across her channel. A lot of what she does is fascinating and it's basically documenting her writing journey as well as tips and tricks she's learned from other (more popular) writers, etc.
She is in many ways similar to Ali in that all of her videos are very personality driven. There are just certain YouTubers you watch because of how they look and how they sound and how they act when they are on camera. Then there are YouTubers who you learn from so they don't ever have to be on camera and are just a voice (like Mark Crilley) or it doesn't matter what they look like but it's all in the content (and occasionally the delivery).
Kate has a great mixture of both personality and content.
Smaller YouTuber like Brittany Wang but I like her content, when she drops a video. Both of these streamers are fairly similar in that I can tell they are figuring it all out and I admire their tenacity to stick with it all and share it all with us.
For me, all of these YouTubers teach me valuable lessons not just on what I love to do and how to do it better but also the good, the bad and the ugly of deciding to ultimately be a YouTuber in the first place! I do a lot of note-taking and research on what I feel would work for me and what wouldn't. I could go into greater detail but that's not what this post is for. This is for you to discover new channels that you may never have heard of before and you might consider subscribing too! I hope you do!