if you like someone's writing tell them or put it on the internet somewhere that you like their writing and they will live longer and write more
many writers probably continue writing (or are able to produce new stories and eventually books) only because every couple of weeks or months they read some little thing on the internet, some evidence that their writing has had an actual effect on a human being that they do not know
when i wrote most of my story-collection, bed, one email or internet thing from a human being that i did not know, saying that they liked whatever internet story i had, would motivate me enough to work like 5-10 more days or something on a short story; i would read the same email more than once, more than one day, and it would still motivate me
if an editor of some journal, the mid-american review, or something, sent me a personal rejection letter with a sentence fragment indicating they liked something about my story i would feel motivation and actually feel good for an entire day sometimes, even if i thought that i had nothing else (no friends really and no other interests except listening to music) in my life
sometimes i would be sitting there completely unmotivated (and with nothing else to do with my life; so it wasn't a choice really, like to write or go hang out with someone), feeling really bad, and then something really small but nice would happen and i would go buy coffee and come back and work for a few hours and feel more happy with life, that i was alive, than any other time i think, during that time
sometimes during that time i would be feeling really bad and something really small would happen, something that doesn't affect me at all now, like i would get a text message from someone that i liked, or i would see them on the street and talk to them for like 3 minutes, and that would motivate me for like three to four days
when i say 'motivate' i think i mean not only in terms of writing, but also life, like it would motivate me to continue living and work on living
i have always felt a little confused when people do not express that they like something; i don't know if they are just embarrassed to let the person know, or feel like the person will not like them as much or will disregard their opinion, or if they in part want to convey a persona of 'not being impressed' or something
sometimes i don't let a person know i like something they have written, and then i think maybe i am trying to manipulate them (to like me more or something, i don't know) by not letting them know, but then i read something that i like a lot and i immediately want to tell people and tell the person that i liked it a lot, which then makes me think that i am not manipulating anyone but that if i like something enough my feelings will bypass thoughts having to do with myself and i will not manipulate anyone; i will let the person know i like their work
it will be like i don't exist (for at least a moment), only the feeling of wanting to let the person know will exist; i will be like a tool to convey that message to that person; that is a feeling i like to get from books, that i don't exist
maybe that is dramatic; i just thought about it a lot and i'm not sure; no, i think it's true; right now i do i think
when i wrote most of my story-collection, bed, one email or internet thing from a human being that i did not know, saying that they liked whatever internet story i had, would motivate me enough to work like 5-10 more days or something on a short story; i would read the same email more than once, more than one day, and it would still motivate me
if an editor of some journal, the mid-american review, or something, sent me a personal rejection letter with a sentence fragment indicating they liked something about my story i would feel motivation and actually feel good for an entire day sometimes, even if i thought that i had nothing else (no friends really and no other interests except listening to music) in my life
sometimes i would be sitting there completely unmotivated (and with nothing else to do with my life; so it wasn't a choice really, like to write or go hang out with someone), feeling really bad, and then something really small but nice would happen and i would go buy coffee and come back and work for a few hours and feel more happy with life, that i was alive, than any other time i think, during that time
sometimes during that time i would be feeling really bad and something really small would happen, something that doesn't affect me at all now, like i would get a text message from someone that i liked, or i would see them on the street and talk to them for like 3 minutes, and that would motivate me for like three to four days
when i say 'motivate' i think i mean not only in terms of writing, but also life, like it would motivate me to continue living and work on living
i have always felt a little confused when people do not express that they like something; i don't know if they are just embarrassed to let the person know, or feel like the person will not like them as much or will disregard their opinion, or if they in part want to convey a persona of 'not being impressed' or something
sometimes i don't let a person know i like something they have written, and then i think maybe i am trying to manipulate them (to like me more or something, i don't know) by not letting them know, but then i read something that i like a lot and i immediately want to tell people and tell the person that i liked it a lot, which then makes me think that i am not manipulating anyone but that if i like something enough my feelings will bypass thoughts having to do with myself and i will not manipulate anyone; i will let the person know i like their work
it will be like i don't exist (for at least a moment), only the feeling of wanting to let the person know will exist; i will be like a tool to convey that message to that person; that is a feeling i like to get from books, that i don't exist
maybe that is dramatic; i just thought about it a lot and i'm not sure; no, i think it's true; right now i do i think
1:07 AM
32 Comments:
I like your writing.
this is nice tao.
im glad someone said this.
I like your writing.
I like commenting on other people's writing, it makes me feel 'part of something'.
I like it when people care enough to comment, even if the comments are bad.
i like your writing! your blog makes my day sometimes. and yesterday it made me sad because i don't live in new york and could not share an apartment with you.
i ordered all your books available on amazon. this was four or five weeks ago. i still have not received any of them. i am sad because i cannot read them, but i am also happy for you because the demand for your books is so high.
i also like you art. i hope your studio will be remodeled soon and you will have a tidy space for making pictures.
i even got a blogger account, just so i can comment on your entries. i do not comment very often, though, because i am so self-conscious.
very true and good to state
i like what you said just now
This is all true.
Good job, Tao. I applaud your words. Your words have been validated by a representative of the state of Indiana.
I almost quit music once because someone told me to "STOP FUCKING SUCKING." Then a different person said something nice so I kept going. Then later the person who told me to "STOP FUCKING SUCKING" said he like me song. I had officially stopped caring about said someone's opinion, but it made me feel validated in a way I never expected to be.
There should be a day of the year where no one is allowed to say anything negative. Only positive things. Anyone who says a negative comment to another person is no longer allowed to speak or be spoken to for the remainder of the day.
Actually, that would be weird and fake.
Negativity feels good too.
your blog is on my rss feed and i read it pretty much as soon as you post something new. i like to read your stuff, it makes me feel better sometimes
i'm not that much affected anymore by people saying they like my writing, it won't make me live a lot longer
for other people though
actually sometimes i like someone's writing and i don't say anything and it depends but if i like the person i will not tell them i like their writing sometimes because i'm afraid of it being interpreted as an attempt to relieve my own loneliness or something or some kind of attempt to passive-aggressively tell the person that i like them
i don't know
I'm like that with girls that I like.
i thought we were not allowed to tell you what we thought of your writing becasue of some kind of writer reader confidentiality clause.
You are going to seriously compromise the writing ability of those writers who can only create when they are miserable, with your insane and degenerate idea. Reprobate!
Jeff
Yes. This is also a good reason to start an online literary magazine.
funny--this makes sense to me. the other day i wanted to write something on noah's blog page about liking burning babies, but other than writing 'i like it' on some other blog, i didn't do it--i kept looking at the tone of the other comments and thinking 'maybe you have to be funny', or maybe it can't be 'sincere'. pretty dumb. it's funny how one does analyze it--alerting someone that you like their writing feels somehow stalkerish. like, "don't take this the wrong way, but i like your writing."
The reason I don't tell people I like their writing is because of one of two things:
1) I do not think they need my feedback because they already know their writing is good or are motivated to keep writing no matter what I say. I will not tell Tao Lin that I like his writing because I think that he doesn't care and will keep writing anyway. I am embarrassed and think these people will think that I want to be their groupie or friend or something. If I was Alice Notley or something, or Joseph Ceravolo's ghost, I would not hesitate to tell people I like their writing, because then they would not suspect me of being groupie-wannabe or of being pathetic. But no one even knows me, so if I send an e-mail or tell them at a reading that I like their work, they won't care or will be scared.
2) Because if a person tells me that s/he likes my writing, I think they are just doing it to be polite, or to console me because my writing is so bad, and that if they don't console me I will stop living, and that feels bad, and I don't want to do that to other people.
"1) I do not think they need my feedback because they already know their writing is good or are motivated to keep writing no matter what I say. I will not tell Tao Lin that I like his writing because I think that he doesn't care and will keep writing anyway. I am embarrassed and think these people will think that I want to be their groupie or friend or something. If I was Alice Notley or something, or Joseph Ceravolo's ghost, I would not hesitate to tell people I like their writing, because then they would not suspect me of being groupie-wannabe or of being pathetic. But no one even knows me, so if I send an e-mail or tell them at a reading that I like their work, they won't care or will be scared.
2) Because if a person tells me that s/he likes my writing, I think they are just doing it to be polite, or to console me because my writing is so bad, and that if they don't console me I will stop living, and that feels bad, and I don't want to do that to other people."
i feel all those things also and they prevent me from telling someone something some of the time also
good job
if i really like something a lot though the feeling will overpower all those things and i will tell the person
Sorry. That being said, I do often tell people that I like their writing, out the blue, even. I e-mailed Joshua Marie Wilkinson and told him that I liked two lines in his Octopus Books chapbook and he was really gracious about it. It was nice. So I do it, and it feels good for me, too, when I know it makes them feel good, but sometimes it takes some nerve. I have to pick and choose.
i think we wrote those last posts at the same time, Tao.
i like your writings. can i be your groupie?
you can be my groupie but i won't view you as a desirable human being anymore
maybe not 'desirable' but 'real'
just kidding i think
me too.
just kidding.
me too.
I don't understand.
This is not concrete reality. It is cyberspace.
I tell people I like their writing. I could care less if they think i am a douchebag or not.
And fuck them if they do.
Fuck you tao if you think i am a douche for saying that I like your writing.
I feel better now. I just woke up and am hostile.
I apologize.
I did say that I liked Tao's writing and Buddy Wakefield's slam poetry in a bio for a short story.
Is that considered aggressive passive?
I am confused now.
I need to overanalyze minute aspects of life more.
I am a douchebag.
I am sorry.
I wrote something on my blog about you the day before this was posted.
I like your writing. And I like how people write like you when talking to you or about you. I am doing it right now.
Hi Jereme. I like the way you spell your name, so many e's. I don't think Tao Lin called anyone a douchebag for saying they liked his writing, and I don't think you are a douchbag, you just said what you feel, and I felt something in my throat or lung when I read it, like I feel whenever some says "fuck you for _________". Is that concrete reality? I don't know.
Liking something, though, is never really concrete reality even if it happens in concrete reality. If I meet you on the street and touch you and say, "Hi Jereme. I like the way you spell your name," it is not any different than what I just did here, in cyberspace. It can have the same effect, or non-effect as doing it in a blogspot comment box.
Now I'm a douchebag.
This is cyberspace.
robert,
you are humorous. thank you for making me laugh.
I'm probably going to teach "Bed" to my second level composition students next semester. Maybe that'll keep you going, eh?
great post. I like it a lot.
I like your writing even if that doesn't have an impact on you. I tell other people I like their writing and it has a bigger impact on them.
I like it best when I tell someone I like their writing and my blog post becomes one of the top search results for that piece of writing or even for that person. one time an older person who doesn't blog or post comments on blogs posted a comment on my post about their writing.
I mentioned this post of yours in a draft blog post that I didn't publish but I will probably publish it sometime and say "this is a draft post that I didn't publish on Oct 24". it wasn't mostly about your post tho.
you might like this blog post b/c it mentions loneliness. congratulations on your books.
I like what Josh Maday said in this thread, "And I like how people write like you when talking to you or about you. I am doing it right now."
oh yeah, for that link, username=bath and password=rondeed
Thank you, Ryan W. That makes me feel good. I like that you liked what I wrote and then wrote it in your comment. I am still writing like Tao Lin right now. Or I think I am. Maybe I'm not. Descartes is blurry to me now, six years later.
I like your writing, but it's kind of scary to actually _say_ something to someone famous & that you respect & are a tiny tiny tiny bit in awe of, somehow
also, I don't think I understand everything, so I don't even think a person like me qualities to communicate to a person like you
if that makes any sense?
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