February 1st, 2023
Welcome to February. It’s just as damn cold as yesterday.
It is also a brand new monthly topic on my Sleeping Kitty Productions 2023 calendar: Internet Writing & Unproduced Work.
And I’m going to start with a big question:
Why the hell do I do this?
By that, I mean: what is the point of talking so much on the internet? Why would I be vulnerable in a space where people are constantly looking for a target? Why would I try to explore things with nuance and subtlety in a place where a sledgehammer is often a substitute for context?
Because I think it matters.
Whenever someone tells me something they came across on my page meant something to them, my response is invariably the same:
“I think everyone should talk like this on the internet.”
And I do.
The other day, we were talking about how social media can actually make real life interactions more difficult; since we post about our vacations and our kids and what we eat every day, it doesn’t leave a lot of small talk questions to ask one another.
My personal experience is very different from that; I am often confronted by people who want to talk about something more.
Whether it’s creativity or spirituality or grief or my alcoholism, among the long list of not-easy things I find myself talking about, the words I write tend to inspire more conversation in real life, not less.
That tells me there’s something there.
And sometimes it’s just a reaction to how normal people use social media; everyone shouts “it’s not real!” and then they continue to present their own lives in the exact same manner, filters and toxic positivity and a distinct lack of that complexity and sadness that makes us real.
So that’s why I do it: I’m an idiot.
This month will focus on my online writing; the first book collection of that writing, Time is a Solid State; and all the projects I started over the years that I didn’t finish, for one reason or another.
I think the projects you abandon can be as important as the ones you bring into the world, and I’m looking forward to sharing some of those.
I’m glad you survived January. I’m glad I’m here, too. Here’s to writing a whole lot more vulnerable shit to remind ourselves how human we actually are.
The Den 