I Still Care; June 17 2026

Working when you have ‘nothing to show for it’ is one of the worst types of employment under capitalism. At the end of a day, I may have a handful of words added to my total count, a scene written, a chapter done… But because it doesn’t pay, the rest of the world doesn’t see value in what I’ve accomplished.

I’ve got a new project to work on that’s slow to take off, for the above reason. I have like… one page written, if you don’t count the plot outline, but every time I open the document…

It’s just hard to find motivation to do something when I’m not reaping any benefits. At the end of this book, I’ll have One More Book and nothing to show for it unless the publishing world decides to reward me for my work.

And it looks like publishing is shifting more and more towards giving influencers book deals instead of writers.

Being an influencer is a full-time job. The people who do it successfully have to carve out a niche and stay inside it while thousands of other people fall over themselves trying to tear them out of it. They rely on earned media and sponsorships, they become editors and creators and marketers… But not writers.

Because that doesn’t leave time to write. No time to practice writing – because it does take practice – and no time to read (unless their niche involves reading, like for book reviews).

There’s always AI to fall back on, though. I guess they could plug in prompts for publishing to spread en-masse.

Which I say sarcastically, disgustedly, and with no shortage of anger.

I miss when people cared about the humanity in stories. I know a lot of y’all still do; I still do. It just sucks that the people in charge of distributing books have decided they don’t.