FUCK YES GRACE!!!!!!! seriously you’ve put it into words better than i ever could, i think it’s bonkers how much we care about what others think and how we are perceived and whether we are doing well in terms of engagement or not like literally who cares!!!!!!!!!! the point of writing, at least to me, is to write for myself and myself only!!! and if my post only got 2 likes that is 2 whole fucking likes compared to just me liking it!!!!!!!!
I agree! If you like it too, guess what that's 3 people! I've been really thinking about my relationship to the numbers game and I realized "Oh, I don't even care anymore" and it feels DAMN GOOD! Because it wasn't always the case! My frontal lobe is loading....
Important post. And while the notes feature in Substack is great for letting more people know about our writing, it also feels like a distraction from why we are all here.
Thank you Annie! I am taking a biiiiig break from the notes feature because I didn't join Substack to have a social media, which is what notes really are, I joined it to read and write and connect with people through our words.
Definitely agree. I try to only post notes that are connected to my reading of others work on here or my long form writing on here, to help hold me accountable to that <3
it's so crazy how tied up we are to others' perceptions of us in terms of our own self esteem but i love how it's written about here. the writing is the ultimate point, not the reception, like how relationships are about the other person, not who was at your wedding and what they wore. of course, i preach what i don't practice and am as needy as any other writer out there
THANK YOU i get tired of it too and it’s not that i don’t sympathise or sometimes empathise bc i do, but the flop rhetoric spreads so much negativity. like if you get 20+ likes on an essay and consider it a flop bc your posts used to get 40+ what does that communicate to your followers who get less than 10 likes per post? if you have meaningful engagement but still call it a flop, what does that say to the people who took time out of their day to comment? the people waiting for their first ever comment? idk there’s a fine line between communicating frustrations with the algorithm and promoting your post to try and make it seen, vs. pushing negativity and making the whole online space feel negative for anyone watching
I AGREE RE: NEGATIVITY!!!! Like if you say negative things about yourself and your work, what are you teaching not only others to think about you but your own brain? Like something is only a flop if you decide it's a flop. There is no inherent flopness or slayage to anything. We create that, so why would you choose to talk you and your work down? Also YES, if someone interacted or connected meaningfully with your words, whether through a like or a comment or just a read, it just seems disrespectful to complain that there isn't enough. Like, if you had 4 friends show up to your house for your birthday or something, would you say to them "Ugh there's no one here... What a waste" ????!!!!!
FUCK YES GRACE!!!!!!! seriously you’ve put it into words better than i ever could, i think it’s bonkers how much we care about what others think and how we are perceived and whether we are doing well in terms of engagement or not like literally who cares!!!!!!!!!! the point of writing, at least to me, is to write for myself and myself only!!! and if my post only got 2 likes that is 2 whole fucking likes compared to just me liking it!!!!!!!!
I agree! If you like it too, guess what that's 3 people! I've been really thinking about my relationship to the numbers game and I realized "Oh, I don't even care anymore" and it feels DAMN GOOD! Because it wasn't always the case! My frontal lobe is loading....
well said. agree heavy with this
Important post. And while the notes feature in Substack is great for letting more people know about our writing, it also feels like a distraction from why we are all here.
Thank you Annie! I am taking a biiiiig break from the notes feature because I didn't join Substack to have a social media, which is what notes really are, I joined it to read and write and connect with people through our words.
Definitely agree. I try to only post notes that are connected to my reading of others work on here or my long form writing on here, to help hold me accountable to that <3
it's so crazy how tied up we are to others' perceptions of us in terms of our own self esteem but i love how it's written about here. the writing is the ultimate point, not the reception, like how relationships are about the other person, not who was at your wedding and what they wore. of course, i preach what i don't practice and am as needy as any other writer out there
Ah, thank you so much! YES I LOVE THAT IDEA OF THE WRITING OVER THE RECEPTION!
THANK YOU i get tired of it too and it’s not that i don’t sympathise or sometimes empathise bc i do, but the flop rhetoric spreads so much negativity. like if you get 20+ likes on an essay and consider it a flop bc your posts used to get 40+ what does that communicate to your followers who get less than 10 likes per post? if you have meaningful engagement but still call it a flop, what does that say to the people who took time out of their day to comment? the people waiting for their first ever comment? idk there’s a fine line between communicating frustrations with the algorithm and promoting your post to try and make it seen, vs. pushing negativity and making the whole online space feel negative for anyone watching
I AGREE RE: NEGATIVITY!!!! Like if you say negative things about yourself and your work, what are you teaching not only others to think about you but your own brain? Like something is only a flop if you decide it's a flop. There is no inherent flopness or slayage to anything. We create that, so why would you choose to talk you and your work down? Also YES, if someone interacted or connected meaningfully with your words, whether through a like or a comment or just a read, it just seems disrespectful to complain that there isn't enough. Like, if you had 4 friends show up to your house for your birthday or something, would you say to them "Ugh there's no one here... What a waste" ????!!!!!
wow and maybe i will just go completely off the grid and no one will ever know. how beautiful
HOW BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
a much-needed slap across my face, if you know what i mean! thank you so much 🫶❤️
OH I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!!!!!!! Thank you so much :')
Yesss, my life is mine is a phrase I will use all the time ❤️
Awww yay! That makes me so glad :)
sutt l
thank you so so so much for this piece!! 🫶🏼✨