We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tori Dail. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tori below.

Alright, Tori thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. So, let’s imagine that you were advising someone who wanted to start something similar to you and they asked you what you would do differently in the startup-process knowing what you know now. How would you respond?

I definitely could have ended up where I’m at now faster. I always joke that I take the more complicated route in anything I do, just to see if I can do it. But that isn’t always the best approach, even if I enjoy the challenge. So the first thing I’d say to do differently is to not automatically take the more challenging and uncertain path.
The second thing would be to focus on what I have to say, what my goal is with the art and content I create. I spent so much time researching what everyone else was doing, or how to be successful in certain avenues, that I got overwhelmed by all of the information. It made me feel as if I wasn’t good enough to even share anything, i had to have the perfect title, images, products, etc. I would often not work on anything for fear of it not being ‘postable’. You can’t let others tell you how to run your business, you have to just start and do what makes sense for you. Doing research is important, but they aren’t YOU, and what works for you won’t work for someone else.
And lastly, I think just believing in my own voice, and sharing my authentic self with the world. We can get so caught up in our ‘brand’ sometimes, and as important as that can be, it’s even more important to share what makes you stand out with the world. I am my brand, so sharing my authentic self, and not being afraid to be imperfect andgoofy and nerdy, is the best thing I can do. I find that when I do, I have the most success. It’s cheesy, but true: just be yourself, share all of the messy, weird, and wonderful sides of yourself in whatever you create.

Tori, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m Tori, the creative force behind Stories From A Cafe. I tell stories for a living, wether it be through my own creative work or by sharing what inspires me to create. I’ve always been a storyteller, and try to emphasize that in whatever I do.
I’ve had a lot of ups and downs in my life, and it can definitely be seen in my creative journey. I started off by selling items on Etsy (something I never want to do again, that was stressful), started a blog, started another blog, tried Twitch streaming, and am now trying to make videos. It’s definitely been a LONG road, but I’ve had consistency amongst an inconsistent journey. And that is what I’m focusing on now more than ever in my art, content, and products.
But before I can share that, here’s a brief summary of how I got there.
Since I was thirteen, I’ve always wanted to write a book. Part of it was my love of stories, but the other was what those stories were for me. I had learned at that time that not only was I dealing with depression and anxiety, yay me, but that eventually, I would go completely blind. I was diagnosed with Rod Cone Dystrophy, which meant that the way I saw the world was going to change. Since the rods and cones are responsible for how you take in light and color, I would start to struggle more and more with navigating an inaccessible world. It was a lot to take in, but I would find comfort in escapism. i would delve into legends and folktales, read of characrters who faced the odds successfully, watch heroes be defeated, only to get back up and fight to save the day, and play as a speedy blue hedgehog who always had the support of his friends. I loved stories, and wanted to tell one that was just as amazing as the ones I grew up with.
Two years later, I would begin working on a story that for some reason, I haven’t given up on. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that even when other areas of life were inconsistent, when I was in creative slumps, or wasn’t sure if I had anything worth sharing, there was the story of Gwen WIlder, running from those trying to hurt her, but ultimately, coming out victorious.
That doesn’t mean that there aren’t challenges when it comes to that. To call back to the biggest challenge, my vision, I often strugged with making progress due to eye strain and inaccessible tools for creating the book. Another main issue was deciding on a format to tell the story in, what the focus was, and building out the world and characters within it. More than that, it was trusting my gut in taking time, and not rushing the process. And lastly, running the current business while also writing a book series. But I found ways to overcome those challenges.
I ultimately decided on a graphic novel for the format, and that’s defintiely resulting in it taking more time than I had expected. ITo make the art process a bit easier, use a mixture of traditional and digital art, and the software I use is Procreate, which has amazing acessibility features. I also use World Anvil, notion, and beieve it or not, The Sims 4, to keep track of information, work on the World building, and envision what the world and characters look like. Each have pros and cons, so using the three togehter makes it easier to give my eyes a break between sessions. Also each have ways of making it easier to see (well The Sims could be better, but it works well enough for now.).
And the last challenge is what’s led to a pretty significant change in my content since the last article. Instead of trying to focus on several different projects, I’m now focusing on the main one, that being the graphic novel. That doesn’t mean i can’t share other fun things I do, but I really believe in the story I have to tell, and I think others will find comfort in the characters and the journeys they take. I’m going to be sharing updates on my progress, wips, speed paints of the characters and concept art, as well as how I use the tools at my disposal to tell the story. I’m also going to keep sharing what inspires me and why. I’m excited for this new chapter in the creative journey, especially the part where you get to me Gwen, Samantha, Thomas, and the rest of the crew.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Honestly, there are a lot of things. For one, the value in creative work and the power it can have. I see so many arguments against creative jobs, such as video content, artists, and writers- especially when they think that these jobs are easily replaceable, or aren’t that hard. I’d like those people to think of their favorite story. What movie, song, or book moved you to tears, or made you laugh so hard your stomach hurt? Someone had to make that. They took the time to capture their experience, and put it out there for the world to see. Without that individual, or team behind it, those stories wouldn’t exist. That movie you liove so much? Imagine the team behind it just got ‘a real job’ instead, working in a corporate office or something. Well, now that movie never got to be made. It doesn’t exist.
And the jobs we do are NOT easy, especially when you are a one person team. In a normal business, you have different people for each kind of job or role. Now imagine that all of those roles are being done by one person. I’m not just the art department, or the writer; rather I’m those as wells as IT, legal, marketing, catering, maintenance, budgeting, HR, ediitng, social media marketing, and the list goes on. So yeah, it’s not an easy job, but I do it because I believe in the stories and experiences I have to share with the world.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

As I’ve previously mentioned, I’ve gone through a lot of challenges in my life. One thing I learned during the year that shall not be named, was something I had looked into before, but due to the lack of understanding at the time, wrote off. A lot of women on social media were sharing their experiences with learning they had ADHD, and how for years they had pushed it aside due to what it was ‘supposed’ to look like at the time. But it represents differetnly in women than in men, and after doing my own research and talking with a doctor, I ended up learning that I had ADHD as well. It was like a lightbulb shined over my head, that ‘Aha!’ moment you see in cartoons. I felt a sense of relief knowing why my brain worked the way it did, but also ended up with more challenges due to it.
I had to unlearn a lot of things, and am still learning how to work with my brain instead of against it. For example, the normal route for building a business and brand won’t work for me. I’ve learned that having too strict of a brand only leads me to failure, so instead I focus on me and what I can share. I also found that I struggle with posting consistently, and honestly, hate social medai and having to post ALL the time. I’m thankful that a lot of platforms now have built in features for scheduling posts, which means I can create things when I’m inspired, and then space it out accordingly. Also not focusing on perfection, or things matching a perfect aesthetic or curated board, I already have a tendency to overcomplicate things, and find that posting something, even if it isn’t peak content, is better than not posting anything. As long as it shares a piece of who I am and what I’m trying to do in my creative journey, it’s worth posting.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.storiesfromacafe.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/storiesfromacafe/
• Other: KO=FI: https://ko-fi.com/storiesfromacafe

  PINTEREST: https://www.pinterest.com/storiesfromacafe/

Image Credits

Tori Dail