Loved this post and it was well worth the wait. You are not the nightly news who has to scrape up some fake drama or human interest fluff when there is nothing worth reporting. I worry about the same issues with my dynamic of weekly substack posts, along with the danger of audience capture and feeling the risk when I do something outside of my core niche. But I am mostly doing this to have fun and share my experiences with the world, so you have to be sincere in everything you do. People appreciate you for it, just like I appreciate you.
Thank you so much for the kind words and the advice!
I do feel like I sometimes overstep my personal boundaries of expertise and opine about stuff that's way above my pay grade, but I get a weird sense of satisfaction from being the boorish philistine endlessly complaining about stuff, hahaha
firstly, I think you have written quite a lot already. when I first found your blog, I had a great time going through the archive and reading a piece each night. I spent quite a lot of time - there is a lot of material that you've put out there for folks.
secondly: I know exactly this feeling you're describing - the guilt-like sensation. I have a Patreon where I post art to subscribers. it's relatively modest now - but beginning in 2007 I developed a sizeable internet following, and it pretty much drove me mad. I ended up quitting the Internet for many years and leaving it all behind. My Patreon is an attempt at finding some balance of sharing my work with an audience, but also living. But truly, it feels like if you aren't constantly "producing", you're not giving the people what they want. but that leads me to my next point.
thirdly: your specific readers will necessarily have an understanding and respect for your choice to live the extraordinary life you have built rather than farming content for us. the heart of your writing resonates with us - so we know that the dominant culture's lifestyle of grind, produce, be chronically online is bullshit. and we all sort of dream to be living the way you are. so as much as we love your words, none of us are going to resent you for doing you. I personally feel really privileged to have read what I have from you, and I think I can speak for everyone else whether they are financially supporting you or not when I say I don't feel like you owe us anything.
I just felt the need to comment here because I resonate so strongly with what youve written here and it's something I struggle with myself. It's easier to have perspective on it from the other end - of a fan rather than the creator.
as an aside, I'm just finishing up Colin Turnbulls People Of the Forest (and listening to his recordings of the pygmy's awe-inspring music) and its making me nostalgic for a life I've never experienced.
Thank you so much for your kind words & encouragement... I didn't really expect to get so much attention for my writing, so I'm still trying to navigate & process the whole thing. It makes me so happy to read comments like yours, really! Thanks for accompanying me on this journey!
And enjoy the Forest People, it's one of my favorite ethnographies!
Good to hear from you again David! Always enjoy your content, and I think the buildup and anticipation makes it better than regular scheduled formulaic stuff. Especially for a niche audience such as this, I’m sure we get it and prefer the quality content when it’s ready.
Thanks a lot, old friend. Glad I somehow still manage not to disappoint. I'm just completely baffled that this fringe weirdo extremist blog reaches ever more people. I had absolutely no idea where this would all lead when I started writing.
It seems my superpower is to make myself appear smarter than I actually am!
I seriously hope most others who read this blog understand (or at least tolerate) my depraved sense of humor, and don't take everything I say at face value. A little ironic self-aggrandizement every now and then actually works wonders to separate the chaff from the wheat (excuse the agriculturalist metaphor) in terms of subscribers: believe it or not, almost 20 people unsusbcribed immediately after this little intermission lol
This usually only happens when I write about Anarcho-Primitivism!
And, curiously, ever since I wrote this piece complaining about my lack of rigor & self-discipline, I've actually managed to sit down every morning for a few days in a row while I drink my coffee, and - voilà - that's how the elephant piece came into being! Completely unplanned, and the exact opposite of what I said here.
Loved this post and it was well worth the wait. You are not the nightly news who has to scrape up some fake drama or human interest fluff when there is nothing worth reporting. I worry about the same issues with my dynamic of weekly substack posts, along with the danger of audience capture and feeling the risk when I do something outside of my core niche. But I am mostly doing this to have fun and share my experiences with the world, so you have to be sincere in everything you do. People appreciate you for it, just like I appreciate you.
Thank you so much for the kind words and the advice!
I do feel like I sometimes overstep my personal boundaries of expertise and opine about stuff that's way above my pay grade, but I get a weird sense of satisfaction from being the boorish philistine endlessly complaining about stuff, hahaha
a few things:
firstly, I think you have written quite a lot already. when I first found your blog, I had a great time going through the archive and reading a piece each night. I spent quite a lot of time - there is a lot of material that you've put out there for folks.
secondly: I know exactly this feeling you're describing - the guilt-like sensation. I have a Patreon where I post art to subscribers. it's relatively modest now - but beginning in 2007 I developed a sizeable internet following, and it pretty much drove me mad. I ended up quitting the Internet for many years and leaving it all behind. My Patreon is an attempt at finding some balance of sharing my work with an audience, but also living. But truly, it feels like if you aren't constantly "producing", you're not giving the people what they want. but that leads me to my next point.
thirdly: your specific readers will necessarily have an understanding and respect for your choice to live the extraordinary life you have built rather than farming content for us. the heart of your writing resonates with us - so we know that the dominant culture's lifestyle of grind, produce, be chronically online is bullshit. and we all sort of dream to be living the way you are. so as much as we love your words, none of us are going to resent you for doing you. I personally feel really privileged to have read what I have from you, and I think I can speak for everyone else whether they are financially supporting you or not when I say I don't feel like you owe us anything.
I just felt the need to comment here because I resonate so strongly with what youve written here and it's something I struggle with myself. It's easier to have perspective on it from the other end - of a fan rather than the creator.
as an aside, I'm just finishing up Colin Turnbulls People Of the Forest (and listening to his recordings of the pygmy's awe-inspring music) and its making me nostalgic for a life I've never experienced.
Thank you so much for your kind words & encouragement... I didn't really expect to get so much attention for my writing, so I'm still trying to navigate & process the whole thing. It makes me so happy to read comments like yours, really! Thanks for accompanying me on this journey!
And enjoy the Forest People, it's one of my favorite ethnographies!
Чоловіче, продовжуй свою справу! В тебе чудово виходить!
Дуже дякую!
Good to hear from you again David! Always enjoy your content, and I think the buildup and anticipation makes it better than regular scheduled formulaic stuff. Especially for a niche audience such as this, I’m sure we get it and prefer the quality content when it’s ready.
Thanks a lot, old friend. Glad I somehow still manage not to disappoint. I'm just completely baffled that this fringe weirdo extremist blog reaches ever more people. I had absolutely no idea where this would all lead when I started writing.
It seems my superpower is to make myself appear smarter than I actually am!
I seriously hope most others who read this blog understand (or at least tolerate) my depraved sense of humor, and don't take everything I say at face value. A little ironic self-aggrandizement every now and then actually works wonders to separate the chaff from the wheat (excuse the agriculturalist metaphor) in terms of subscribers: believe it or not, almost 20 people unsusbcribed immediately after this little intermission lol
This usually only happens when I write about Anarcho-Primitivism!
And, curiously, ever since I wrote this piece complaining about my lack of rigor & self-discipline, I've actually managed to sit down every morning for a few days in a row while I drink my coffee, and - voilà - that's how the elephant piece came into being! Completely unplanned, and the exact opposite of what I said here.
Life is strange sometimes.