This fall is the twentieth anniversary of the end of my time in graduate school, and it's been ten years since I picked up my notebook again and actually gave writing a sustained try. Right now, I feel like all of that was a huge waste of time. I don't really have anything great to replace it with, but I don't want to keep going enough that I'd rather deal with a big empty place in my life than with continuing to fail.
Thanks to everyone who encouraged me to keep doing this. That's why I gave BASS another try this year. But the few people who comment on here aren't really enough for me to say this is a good use of my time and effort.
Appreciate it, Karen. But I read BASS on the Kindle app, so I hope I'm not looking at a battered copy.
ReplyDeleteWell, no wonder you've lost interest!
ReplyDeleteJust elaborating further: I follow so many writers accounts, where they might be sharing thoughts, critiques, reviews and all sorts of things. Then, from time to time they talk about their own writing, have guests over. Some offer revision, consultancy and all sorts of things. You have an absurd talent. There is so much you can do with it. 💛📚✍🏼 Even if you don’t necessarily blog here, whatever you do might be great if you put yourself out there. I know mentally, everything is exhausting, but not doing what we love is also exhausting. And then, that’s in fact a big waste of time. Take it from someone who’s given up and burned out plenty of times. Wynnie
ReplyDeleteThat's kind of you, and I appreciate the encouraging words, I really do. But if I may rebut a bit, if I'm so absurdly talented, why does almost nobody notice me, why am I laboring away in some dark corner of the Internet, why is there so little interaction from readers other than my friend Karen, and why, generally, does it feel like I'm not particularly talented because of the almost complete indifference my writing inspires?
ReplyDeleteIt is hard to leave comments on Blogger. Wordpress may be better. Your quiet audience appreciates you.
ReplyDeleteThink your audience is quiet. I only came across your blog recently - when googling to find an analysis of "His Finest Moment" by Tom Bissell because I couldn't understand what I was missing that justified it's entry in the 2023 addition of the series. Anyway, I like your work, hope you keep at it.
ReplyDeleteFor what it’s worth, I enjoyed your work here!
ReplyDelete