How to be a writer in the attention economy
Another listicle you don't need
Hello!
I have been quiet here. It’s not that I don’t have anything to say. I’m just not sure what I want to say or how to say it or even why I feel it is necessary to say anything at all. I find myself in a fallow period, waiting for the next inspiration. We might call this the non-medical condition of writer’s block. Or “second-book syndrome”. Or maybe it’s just that the muse is absent. But I don’t think any of this quite explains the situation. I have a lot of ideas swirling in my head, piecemeal. I’m just not ready to let them out. They are half-baked. And we all get enough half-baked emails already.
I believe that the best writing and art requires such periods of compost. Or cooking. Or whatever metaphor best suits this idea of needing space and time and heat, alone with the work, before expressing it externally.
Unfortunately, taking time off to just be, to think, to eat, to rest, to let the creative spirit percolate, is quite challenging in a capitalist economy which demands grow or die! Oh how I long for a nature-based economy which values seasons of dark and slowness, as much as it values ones of light and expansion.
So in the meantime, I am sharing a piece I wrote last year. It was one of those stories that came out easily, without much work or stress or thought, and I think it captures my ambivalent feelings about how to make a decent income as a writer in these strange times. (Scroll below for the story called “How to be a writer in the attention economy”)
As always, if you want to support my work (including the fallow periods) with a monetary contribution you can buy a paid subscription to the Substack, buy a watercolor painted postcard, or gift me any amount of cash money directly through Venmo or Paypal. Think of it as buying your favorite writer a cup of coffee. Think of it as feeding the artist. The joys of a regenerative economy. The pleasures of giving a gift.
And if you are feeling a bit of a creative lull yourself, and want to rejuvenate your writing, we still have one more spot left on the culinary writing adventure in wild Tuscany at the end of April!
How to be a writer in the attention economy
Start by posting lots of photos of yourself. These are called selfies, and they are no longer a sign of self-indulgence or obsession, but are actually a very important part of the writing process. If you can’t muster up the energy to post pictures of yourself, or hate the way you look in the phone, at least post a few memes. It’s very important that you get the eyeballs looking your way. You can’t write if no one is watching. Photos or it didn’t happen.
Try to remember how to read. You know that the best writers read a lot, and you still love collecting books, but you forgot how to read somewhere around May of 2020. Every night you get in bed with a book, only to turn to your phone to say goodnight, and then return to the living 1.5 hours later after watching food influencers stuff things into their mouths. You put the book back on your nightstand and say your daily affirmation “I am a person who reads”
Obsess over your favorite writers’ social media profiles. What are they posting? Where are they giving talks? What awards have they won?
Get hired writing listicles for a major online magazine, while the editors you work with are slowly being fired, such that every time you email someone, you get an out of office reply, written by AI, followed a few days later by an email from your new boss with apologies that so and so left to pursue other pursuits.
Learn how to film, edit, and market Instagram and TikTok reels. Ask ChatGPT for help capturing the attention of the algorithm that is making a select few men mega-rich, while you pay $27.95 for a carton of eggs.
Sell a course called How To Be A Writer In the Attention Economy for $99.99. By this point you have 150,000 followers for your fake videos of waking up in the morning and “get ready with me” content, even though you rarely leave the house. Watch the tens of thousands of dollars roll in from other writers who see themselves in you. Who wish they could be writers, too. Just like you.
Lots of love,
Gina Rae
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