Loved this, Tim, and wanted you to know I quoted it with full attribution in Frank Bruni's New York Times Opinion newsletter in the "For the Love of Sentences" section.
I really appreciate this refreshingly honest take on the thorny relationship writers often have with their own image. One of the big hazards in the age of personal branding is the constant terror of a minor public misstep that could tank your whole career. Personally, I too kind of wish people didn't expect writers to be good public figures. Often I suck at just being a person. As I once saw another writer put it, "One does not become a writer out of sterling mental health." We need permission to be messy.
This! so much this! thank you for articulating so beautifully. It's something I struggle with very much and has been so difficult to express. Thank you
Omg this resonated with me so much. I am still in the learning process..I feel like this sums up what Justin Kleon talks about around sharing your work as a creative
One good thing about getting older, about becoming a little more jaded, a little more cynical, maybe even a little more pessimistic, is that you let go of your naive aspirations, your idealized ambitions, your delusions of grandeur. Instead, you learn to appreciate things you would have never noticed, or would have otherwise neglected. In places like this my collages and essays, my cobbled together words and pictures, get to sit beside the work of people who are much more talented and interesting. And that, to me, is no small thing.
I found you through a link in Frank Bruni’s newsletter. Lucky me! I’m nobody but have been writing (and reading) since I was a kid, and I can relate to hating to be in the public eye. Not that I have had to much in my former career writing at Johns Hopkins, but when I have—what a train wreck! To this day, I am still too unsure to raise my hand in my 60+ “enrichment” class Also, I’m writing to say that you’re a terrific writer!
"You beam your feeble radio signals out into the abyss and then, one morning, years later, the skies are full of starships." so good. Looking forward to reading more
As the saying goes “never meet your heroes “. As a journalism student at NYU in the late 70s I had Hunter S. Thompson speak at the school. To say he was my idol is an understatement. But by then he was a mess. Drunk. Belligerent. And he just couldn’t have cared less.
So happy to have writing from you in my In box! It's been a while. I am really chagrined by the whole authorial self-promotion thing (isn't this supposed to be someone else's JOB?) and happy that I'm not alone in finding it off-putting. Also, I'm about to teach a graduate seminar in Creative Criticism and I've been wracking (racking?) my brain to find something to pair on the syllabus with some creative science writing by David George Haskell, who's visiting campus this semester, and Nell's book sounds perfect. So thank you! (Also, skwapped. Love.)
Loved this, Tim, and wanted you to know I quoted it with full attribution in Frank Bruni's New York Times Opinion newsletter in the "For the Love of Sentences" section.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/opinion/trump-vivek-ramaswamy-vice-president.html?bgrp=g&smid=em-share
You're welcome :)
I really appreciate this refreshingly honest take on the thorny relationship writers often have with their own image. One of the big hazards in the age of personal branding is the constant terror of a minor public misstep that could tank your whole career. Personally, I too kind of wish people didn't expect writers to be good public figures. Often I suck at just being a person. As I once saw another writer put it, "One does not become a writer out of sterling mental health." We need permission to be messy.
This! so much this! thank you for articulating so beautifully. It's something I struggle with very much and has been so difficult to express. Thank you
Omg this resonated with me so much. I am still in the learning process..I feel like this sums up what Justin Kleon talks about around sharing your work as a creative
Thank you for articulating and sharing this. It really struck a chord with me.
This is fabulously expressed.
This essay and its generosity are a tribute both to you and Ms. Greenfieldboyce.
One good thing about getting older, about becoming a little more jaded, a little more cynical, maybe even a little more pessimistic, is that you let go of your naive aspirations, your idealized ambitions, your delusions of grandeur. Instead, you learn to appreciate things you would have never noticed, or would have otherwise neglected. In places like this my collages and essays, my cobbled together words and pictures, get to sit beside the work of people who are much more talented and interesting. And that, to me, is no small thing.
I found you through a link in Frank Bruni’s newsletter. Lucky me! I’m nobody but have been writing (and reading) since I was a kid, and I can relate to hating to be in the public eye. Not that I have had to much in my former career writing at Johns Hopkins, but when I have—what a train wreck! To this day, I am still too unsure to raise my hand in my 60+ “enrichment” class Also, I’m writing to say that you’re a terrific writer!
"You beam your feeble radio signals out into the abyss and then, one morning, years later, the skies are full of starships." so good. Looking forward to reading more
I believe this applies to the visual arts as well.
Loved this. Ordered Nell's book.
As the saying goes “never meet your heroes “. As a journalism student at NYU in the late 70s I had Hunter S. Thompson speak at the school. To say he was my idol is an understatement. But by then he was a mess. Drunk. Belligerent. And he just couldn’t have cared less.
A perfect, and realistic, blend of earned wisdom and solid snark. Thank you for it.
As for marketing, sometimes I think maybe the great painters and composers had it easy,
being in thrall to their kings-and-princes underwriters. But maybe not.
And cyber hug to Meg.
So happy to have writing from you in my In box! It's been a while. I am really chagrined by the whole authorial self-promotion thing (isn't this supposed to be someone else's JOB?) and happy that I'm not alone in finding it off-putting. Also, I'm about to teach a graduate seminar in Creative Criticism and I've been wracking (racking?) my brain to find something to pair on the syllabus with some creative science writing by David George Haskell, who's visiting campus this semester, and Nell's book sounds perfect. So thank you! (Also, skwapped. Love.)