It reminded me of this Mitchell & Webb skit, which maybe/probably you already know about.
I had not! "So, what if it's not that, but Jaws?"
There are just too many examples of people changing other people's lives and enriching the world--examples that include people I know, like you--that don't fit that pattern.
It's true that I've never had an agent and I've never published with a major press. But I have had to push back on the idea of more social media; I am encouraged to engage in much more self-promotion than I do (and I am given to understand that it has hurt my sales that I don't); it happens less now, but after my first collections came out in 2005, I was regularly asked about my novel, as though I were obviously working on one. I have a very low-profile career. If I wanted anything else, I would have to put much more energy into making myself visible, available, interactive, attractive. It's a moot point because I don't have the energy for that kind of daily hard sell and if I tried it, I don't even know what my mental health would look like except worse. But it's still understood that I'm opting out of the behavior.
Re: now, having read the Kali Wallace article
I had not! "So, what if it's not that, but Jaws?"
There are just too many examples of people changing other people's lives and enriching the world--examples that include people I know, like you--that don't fit that pattern.
It's true that I've never had an agent and I've never published with a major press. But I have had to push back on the idea of more social media; I am encouraged to engage in much more self-promotion than I do (and I am given to understand that it has hurt my sales that I don't); it happens less now, but after my first collections came out in 2005, I was regularly asked about my novel, as though I were obviously working on one. I have a very low-profile career. If I wanted anything else, I would have to put much more energy into making myself visible, available, interactive, attractive. It's a moot point because I don't have the energy for that kind of daily hard sell and if I tried it, I don't even know what my mental health would look like except worse. But it's still understood that I'm opting out of the behavior.