do i judge other writers?
the messy truth about writing “full-time,” and other answers to your questions (#2)
I’m told I need to introduce myself at the top of each newsletter or the n00bs won’t know what’s happening so…
Hi. I’m Alex and this is Both Are True, a newsletter that blends absurd comedy with vulnerable truth that, according to my pal Robbie from the sauna, reads like it was written by “Hunter S. Thompson if he was a dad.”
answers to your questions #2
Sup nerds (loving).
How are you? Drinking too much coffee on not enough sleep? Me three.
Loyal BATheads will remember the dog days of Survey Summer during which I sent out at least one survey every week for some reason. In the survey that ended up winning Survey Of The Year, I promised to answer questions that you might have:
I shared the initial batch of answers here. Today comes batch two. Batch three is in the works.
The questions:
1. you get three wishes what are they?
Do you have demonic messages coming to you while you try to be creative and to experiment?
2. do you write full time or what?
What were you doing before writing full time? did you know you wanted to be a writer sine you were young or did it grow slowly or all at once? (are you writing full time?) how was the transition from that to this? how did you come up with topics to write about, especially in those early days, when we are never really sure things will work out? do you use some kind of structured approach, a list of ideas in your back pocket or a doc or notes, or freestyle based on feeling/the muse?
3. Do you privately judge other people’s work?
Do you ever (in private) judge other work as lesser? If not, how do you deal with stuff that strikes you as unimaginative etc.? Is everything just a matter of taste and one has to acknowledge ones one arrogance in some fields?
4. a way to not look at the numbers
Did you know you can circumvent the stats dashboard by making another profile, adding said profile to your publication as a contributor, and then only post stuff via that profile?? i recently stumbled upon this knowledge and it. has. changed. everything
The Answers
But first: BATCAVE SEPTEMBER BB
We got a bunch of awesome batwrite events coming up including one today and one next week AND A FREE OFFICE HOURS IF YOU WANNA COME AND LEARN MORE ABOUT BATCAVE!!!
🗓️ Thur September 4, 2:30-4:30p est - BATWRITE #031
🗓️ Tue September 9, 4-6p est - BATWRITE #032
🗓️ Thur September 11, 1-2:30p est - BAT OFFICE HOURS (PUBLIC) 🎙️ RSVP
🗓️ Wed September 17, 4-6p est - BATWRITE #033
🗓️ Thur September 18, 4-6p est - BATHANG #003
So if you wanna read the stuff below AND/OR attend these events and all of the others AND feel really good about investing your money into your creative work plus a writer who you really like and want to succeed (hi), then I think we all know what you gotta do.
you get three wishes - no bs stuff - whaddya want?
If you had three wishes you could have granted about yourself (creativity/life/aspirations/etc., no riches/goodlooks/power b.s. ones) what would be the first? (They say that's how you know what you REALLY want the most... i.e., it's what first comes to mind initially, aka Wish #1.)
my answer:
Man that's a good question! I don't know if this is cheating but I think I'd go with 'own a giant house with land and a farm for my family to live on but that's still close enough to everything in Asheville that I could ride my bike.'
That's really the thing I most want right now, is to buy a house for our family.
Creatively, I feel weird asking for anything besides TIME - I just want time. Honestly that's the thing I want the most but I don't know if that's a 'bs one,' I just want tiiiiiime. Not unlimited time because that'd be weird but a few extra sneaky hours every day where I could just write and think and fuck around. That would be so cool.Interestingly, I don't think I'd wish for anything to be different about me or my creative brain, which is pretty cool to realize. I the brain and soul I have! That's honestly pretty new news to me hahah.
I am curious, what would YOUR answer to this question be???
do you write full time or what?
What were you doing before writing full time? did you know you wanted to be a writer sine you were young or did it grow slowly or all at once? (are you writing full time?) how was the transition from that to this? how did you come up with topics to write about, especially in those early days, when we are never really sure things will work out? do you use some kind of structured approach, a list of ideas in your back pocket or a doc or notes, or freestyle based on feeling/the muse?
Oh man, Deeja, there's a lot here. I'm gonna try to answer them one by one.