Here's a picture of my lunch
which will get more likes than my writing
Oh, calm down. You can like both.
// No, look, I get it. Reading is a time commitment, liking a photo is not.
// As human’s capacities for attention plummets like IQs (think iceberg shearing off into the ocean blue), I’m waiting for a grunt sound to replace the 👍like-emjoi.
// Oddly enough, I remain optimistic about the future. Honestly, I don’t know how you be any other way.
// I mean, what business do I have serializing a memoir with a modestly small amount of subscribers? But what I treasure are the people who show up, read, and thoughtfully comment.
// The chapter on my father was particularly challenging because I have so little information on the Chinese side of family. So it was priceless to get feedback from
. Her in-laws experience in China mirror my grandparents. (Yi’s father-in-law cofounded the Nationalists parachute jumping unit of ROC, was also trained in the US, and her mother-in-law married into the military for safety during the civil war.)// And as I reread some upcoming chapters to get them ready for upload, I realized that I liked what I wrote! I’ve had enough time away from the manuscript to see it with fresh eyes, and this, my friend, is a wonderful feeling.
// Rejection (for whatever reason) in a publishing world obsessed with celebrity and social media influencers had made me second-guess what I’ve written. I was wringing myself inside out, tweaking it here or there, moving and deleting chapters with the ease that the computer affords.
But now, I feel happily content to share it, and it feels good to finally let it breathe and be out. I’m taking the second and next steps to prove to myself that what I’ve written has worth.
// After all, what is it about this online world that has made me feel I need more than a circle of friends? I standby the Note I wrote, “It just takes one appreciative reader to make my day!”
On the menu
🎶 Nick Drake & Artistic Rejection ~ Nick Drake was a musician who was not recognized during his time, and we suspect he took his own life, as he overdosed on antidepressants. He was only 26.
Like Van Gogh, Drake died without an inkling of how popular his art would become. The lesson, in my opinion, is don’t internalize rejection because “success” has less to do with talent and more to do with luck.
📖 After reading, How I Got 96 Subscribers in 2 Years, I started mentally writing this, and my call to action is to unsubscribe from anyone trying to sell me the snake oil of Substack triumph and glory. Right now, I need to be my own gentle cheerleader.
🌱
’s The Metamorphosis of Growth series ties in rather nicely as she digs into the meaning and the roots of the word grow. I feel smarter after reading her essays!📖 And sometimes our best intentions end up somewhere else as
’s essay We All Scream for Eye Cream reminds us.Thanks for your support. I appreciate you being here. And I hope you are enjoying contentment and bliss outside the online world, xo
Isn't it a great feeling to read an old something of yours and genuinely like what you've written! It's not at all the same thing, but I remember the first time I listened to an old podcast episode of mine and did not cringe or wish I could re-record. It took a long time and a lot of work to get to that point. I remember celebrating (and the number of downloads — which was low — didn't even matter). I love your voice and vibe. And I'm glad you're writing. 🤗
Well written Lani! I found myself wanting to say “Amen” to every point you listed!
Garnering Likes is intoxicating, I have to admit. But if that becomes what we are chasing then the real reason we are writing vanishes. Let’s be each other’s true writing partner to keep reminding ourselves of why we write in the first place.
Even the “deepest” and most meaningful text postings or shares on my FB or Instagram can’t compete with the sourdough I bake or my NiuNiu_the_blackcat photos 🤣!