Poetry meta by obsidianpegasus, about writing

[mific]

I just saw this post by obsidianpegasus on tumblr, and wanted to share it here.

---

Say it with me:

I am a writer. Not a content-producing machine.
I am a writer. Not a content-producing machine.
I am a writer. Not a content-producing machine.

It’s okay if I don’t have time to write.
It’s okay if a chapter is delayed.
It’s okay if my words come out messy.
It’s okay if I need to take a break.
It’s okay if I don’t update every week, every month, or even every year.

My value as a writer is not measured by how fast I post.
My worth is not defined by kudos, bookmarks, or comments.

I am allowed to be slow.
I am allowed to rest.
I am allowed to write for joy, not for an algorithm.

I am a writer. Not a content-producing machine.

And if anyone thinks otherwise, they can wait.

---

the post on tumblr

Comments

[lucy_roman]

Thanks for posting this. Something all writers should say to themselves.

[mific]

It's a good reminder!

[princessofgeeks]

YES YES YES

[mific]

Thank goodness I'm allowed to be slow! :)

[brumeier]

Thank you for sharing! We're our own worst critics most of the time, aren't we? It's good to get this kind of reinforcement.

[mific]

Yes, especially with social media pressures. A good reminder.

[linky]

Thank you so much for this! Definitely needed this reminder myself.

[mific]

Me too!

[china_shop]

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3

[mific]

Poetry meta, who knew!

[soricel]

Thanks for sharing. My brain sometimes has a hard time knowing the difference between "I need a break, and that's normal/healthy/natural" and "I'm done with writing foreverrr!!!"

[mific]

For sure!

[lobelia321]

I love this. Reminding us of years gone by.

[mific]

Content? What content!

[lobelia321]

cwc. heh.

[nagi_schwarz]

Thank you for this. This is needed.

[mific]

❤️❤️❤️

[verushka70]

Wow. Yes. This, 1000%. Thank you for sharing this.

[mific]

Now I just have to remember it!

[verushka70]

Me too! I signal boosted it on my DW and emailed it to myself so I can pin it to the top of my Inbox.

I often feel like a fandom failure because I have so many WIPs that have gone unfinished for so long. (Years for some; literally decades, for others... sigh!)

And especially since the fanwork... milieu, let's say, has changed over the last decade and a half (at least), with the advent of smartphones, algorithms, recs, "likes/kudos", etc...

It's good to be reminded by that meta poem that things like algorithms and likes/kudos/recs etc shouldn't matter so much because we're just humans writing fanfic in fandoms we love. We have lives and jobs and bills and responsibilities and health problems and other interests outside fandom. And we'll get to it when we get to it.

Thank you very much, again, for sharing it.

[mific]

❤️

[pikkugen]

Excellent. Beautiful. Very much needed.

(Now to get every fanfic *reader* internalize this...)

[mific]

Probably a bridge too far! But we can remember it.

[minoanmiss]

Word.