Writing About Writing

Why I do it, and why you should keep creating, too

The weeks since the election have been rough, dear readers. I’m much better now than I was in the immediate aftermath — resilience is practically my middle name, after all — but for a while there, I was seriously questioning my life’s work. It’s bad enough that being a book critic mostly pays in books, but why do this work at all if no one cares? Americans are reading less and less nowadays, averaging 12 books a year compared to 15 in 2016. Critical reading skills are clearly no longer valued, given the idiotic, self-sabotaging choices so many voters have recently made, both here and around the globe.

So when I talk about books, am I merely talking into the void? When I attempt to uplift empathy and compassion through my profession, while still calling out bad actors and harmful mindsets, are my efforts pointless?

My concentration was still completely shot when I picked up Matthew Eicheldinger’s Sticky Notes last week. It seemed like the perfect book to get me back into reading, with short, uplifting vignettes from the author’s life as a wise and compassionate middle school teacher. As usual, I gave it an honest review: it’s not perfect, but it did make me laugh and cry and gasp, which fulfills 5-star criteria for me. I posted my opinions to The Frumious Consortium and promptly stopped thinking about it, as I prepared to grapple with the next book on my non-stop reading list.

I was actually lying on my couch the next evening, reading about Vintage Birds, when my watch notified me that I’d gotten an email from Mr Eicheldinger. Pushing down the dread that always accompanies unsolicited personal emails — one of these days, I’ll default to joyful expectation instead of the fear of rebuke my upbringing instilled in me — I opened up the e-mail on my phone.

And then, well, I cried for twenty minutes straight as he told me that he, too, had been doing some recent soul-searching and that my review, in the closing words of his surprisingly long and thoughtful letter:

gave me the energy to go back to doing what I think I was meant to do: tell stories. 

Thank you for lifting my spirits today. Wishing you the absolute best. 

This is such a small thing, friends, but his choice to email me that vulnerable note of thanks had such a profound impact on me. I never thought he would read my review commending his dedication to doing the right thing even when the world feels like a disaster. I never dreamed he would reach out to me to tell me how my words encouraged him to keep going. I actually first encountered his work about a year ago, when I was in a really bad place, and his Instagram reels helped assure me that there was still goodness in the world. He isn’t the first author to contact me, ofc: I’ve received e-mails and even cards from various writers thanking me for understanding what they were trying to put out into the world. But he wrote to me at exactly the right time that I needed to hear, despite my doubts, that I am contributing to making the world a better place for everyone in it, even if only through my small efforts.

Anyway, this is why I’m encouraging fellow creatives and artists to keep going even when everything seems terrible, to reach out to your peers and to those you admire and to those who’ve helped you even unknowingly, and to remind them of their positive impact on your lives. Those of us trying to do good are all connected, and you really do matter more than you think when you model genuine appreciation for the kindness and beauty of this world.

Which isn’t to say that you can’t be critical when things are bad! But you should always ask yourself why something is the way it is, then reason out why it’s something you dislike. For example, this incredibly terrible article on one of my least favorite authors Cormac McCarthy, that’s currently taking the literary world by storm! Unlike many of my peers, I was able to power through to the end of it and woo-ee, it is bad. Pithily, it feels like the pop essay version of Interview With The Vampire, featuring an over-invested narrator wildly skewing events and accidentally making everyone involved look awful (with bonus excruciating prose that would have Anne Rice rolling in her grave.)

An interesting counterpoint was this fascinating article about Frankie King, a one-time basketball phenom who would disappear into a life of writing pseudonymous cozy mysteries about catsitters. It’s much better written and edited than the McCarthy piece, as the author’s own involvement dovetails with King’s life without overshadowing it.

Phew, that’s a lot of author talk this week, friends! Only got a bit of game news: finally used an adventure from Role & Play Press’ One-Shot Wonders Free RPG Day 2024 Sampler in my ongoing Ghosts Of Saltmarsh campaign, and it went brilliantly. Had to write down the names of all the NPCs I wound up creating, which I’m using to slowly populate Saltmarsh actual. Subsequently sent my PCs off to explore a lizardfolk dungeon and am So Proud of how they’re going about it diplomatically, even as I’m furiously scribbling down all the side quests they’re acquiring in the process of currying favor with all of the different factions.

I also had a great time playing in my regular The Wild Beyond The Witchlight campaign, which reminded me of this terrific post about RPGs:

A lot of what Becky Annison says in that thread applies to life as well, I feel: go check out her words of wisdom in full. 6, 7 and 9 should probably be strenuously evaluated for real life application, but the rest is perfect as is.

Reading-wise this week, I really enjoyed Sydney Graves’ The Arizona Triangle, a mystery novel featuring a queer, middle-aged PI reluctantly investigating the disappearance of her childhood best friend. Tackling themes of identity and trauma, this thriller had me thinking I’d figured it all out at the 80% mark, only to audaciously pull the rug out from under me. I’m a little worried that perhaps this snippet of the review I sent in to my editor at CriminalElement.com might raise more questions than it answers tho:

I also really enjoyed Svetlana Chmakova’s Weirn Books, both Volumes 1 and 2. Be Wary Of The Silent Woods perfectly sets the scene for a terrific middle-grade urban fantasy adventure, while the follow-up book, The Ghost And The Stolen Dragon, continues the story with charm and verve. Ailis and Na’ya are cousins living in a New England coastal town populated by vampires, shapeshifters and mermaids, as well as by witches like themselves known as weirns. It’s a deeply fun, convincingly diverse and surprisingly touching graphic novel series, and I can’t wait to read more.

Alright, I need to go do some baking for work and, perhaps, for goodies to bring for the reception following my chamber orchestra performance tomorrow. I’ll tell you all about that next week. See you in seven, friends!

Currently Playing (Music): Beethoven’s Symphony #1; Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in F Minor; my Declan Rice and RHJ playlists; Duran Duran’s Danse Macabre De Luxe & Greatest Hits; The War And The Treaty’s Lover’s Game.

Currently Playing (Games): The Light In The Mist puzzletale, Enigmas by David Kwong & Co, The Wild Beyond The Witchlight, Metazooa and Metaflora by Trainwreck Labs, Learned League trivia, NYT Connections, Britannica’s Tightrope, Magic The Gathering: Puzzle Quest and CCG, Koriko.

Currently Reading/Writing (Games): Ghosts Of Saltmarsh; One-Shot Wonders Free RPG Day 2024 Sampler by Sam Bartlett, Beth Davies & Destiny Howell.

Currently Reading or Just Read (Books): The Arizona Triangle by Sydney Graves; Murder On The Page by Daryl Wood Gerber; The Weirn Books, Vol 1: Be Wary Of The Silent Woods and Vol 2: The Ghost And The Stolen Dragon by Svetlana Chmakova; Memorials by Richard Chizmar; Cold Snap by Lindy Ryan; Castle Swimmer Vol 1 by Wendy Martin.