“Take your broken heart, make it into art.” — Carrie Fisher

As a Canadian, I feel somewhat removed from the situation south of the border. During the last few months, I’ve felt like a small girl watching a grown man scream at his children from across the street. What can I do? Who can I tell? Is there a way to make it stop? To make him go away? I’m not so naive to believe it’s none of my business, but I’m not equipped to intervene.

As an artist, it’s easy to feel this way too, helpless and powerless. I’m not a warrior or an activist, much as I’d like to be. Even if either of those words defined me, I couldn’t bring two small children along for the fight.

So I’ve been doing what I always do when something bothers me, writing. I used to channel worries and concerns into non-fiction essays and feature articles. But since I started writing fiction, I’ve poured those sentiments into new molds. I’ve even been so bold as to believe speculative fiction can do more than entertain, it can spread awareness and open minds.

I’m sure my readers already know that I’ve written about bullying, stalking, LGBT families, alcoholism, dysfunctional families, sexual harassment, environmental decay, corporate power, and immigration. I’ve also written about climate change and refugees, although those stories haven’t yet made their way out of my hard drive and into bookstores.

If there are other artists, writers, creators, and makers out there who feel as useless and ineffective as I do most days, my suggestion is this: keep making art and share it widely. Put aside that fear of rejection that holds you back, ignore the voice in your head that tells you you’re wasting time.

Think of your art like the first ripple in a wave. If someone interacts with your work, he or she may transform, just a little. A child might grow up with your ideas in his or her head, and a beautiful concept could be the seed of change in years to come.

Funneling Sadness & Anger into Fiction was originally published in The Fragile Receptacle on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.