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Kathryn Mayer • Writing Out Loud

I write stuff down. writer • humorist • activist

Vaguebook to a writer’s rescue

May 27, 2015 by Kate Mayer 9 Comments

writer struggles to keep on writingBeen struggling a bit with the writing. My writing. To do or not to do. Not with content, this is not writer’s block. I’ve got content believe me: everywhere I look life is screaming to be heard, stories aching to be told. Laughed at. Exposed. Teased, tormented, loved, shared. Told.

There are stories everywhere, it’s just hard to be funny when Texas is drowning. Hard to push gun safety when we are literally shooting ourselves to death every single day and Sandy Hook is turning into a “where? oh, there” afterthought for those outside our very fragile yet beautiful bubble.

Black folks are being trivialized and beaten and killed, and cops are being shot or ignored of their good work or acquitted of their bad and there’s no accountability and how can I just be funny when Kid3 is going to college and I’m left with a Boy who grunts his disgust and that’s if-and-only-if I somehow entice him into my presence. But he’s 15 now and this is all totally normal – I know that, it’s not my first teenage circus – and what am I complaining about when he’s a white boy protected by his skin from a life of injustice he can only experience on the news and lives here, in quiet, safe, secure Newtown with good schools and safe streets and cops are our friends and saviors when they’re not selling drugs from the privacy of their cubicle.

Sigh. That’s the inside of my brain. Today.

So I don’t know whether to post or not to post. To submit my writing elsewhere and if so, how, when, to whom? And after how many rejections is it time to say Uncle? Do people even say uncle anymore?

So on my Facebook writer’s page, I vague-booked my lament with a oh-so-brief, woe-is-me pity post. Nothing like this which mirrors a diary-under-a-pillow-with-heart-shaped-lock-and-key circa middle school mayhem, but I can’t stop myself.

It was quick: just a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am quickie (see below). I posted without fear of being discovered because Facebook has an algorithm so “professional pages or writer pages or business pages” get seen by few to no one, unless I pay to “boost” it. Which I don’t because well, the vast majority of “likes” recruited will most likely be at family reunion correcting my spelling and ridiculing my ungodly obsession with restricting their godgiven right to bear arms.
So I put I had my vaguebook pity party of one on the Kathryn Mayer facebook page: why bother? Any of it? The funny? The family? The activism? Why keep laughing-shouting-crying in an empty room? I hit post then signed off. Here’s how it went:

Facebook rescues a struggling writer

So imagine my surprise when I found out the room is not so empty after all. Notice the reach of 737 people. Those are real people. Facebook says so. And you can’t see the comments here, but they’re ingrained in my heart and soul. For real. (And I’m only related to one of them. Maybe two.)

The comments, support, laughs, kudos were more than my heart could hold; all so very kind, so very positive, reminding me, like the whos in Whoville, “we’re here, we’re here!” Just keep writing, making us laugh, blush, cry and think.

Nothing vague about that.

I can’t even begin to tell you, oh invisible readers, friends, neighbors, strangers, and writing mentors, how much this means to me, because there’s hundreds of me. Thousands upon thousands of writers writing and wondering if we do indeed matter.

Thanks for letting this one know she does.

xo


Two guys in the back of a truck
“I’m not a racist but …” what to do every time

Comments

  1. Lisa Labella says

    May 27, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    I missed the post, but want to add my voice: IT MATTERS!! YOU MATTER!!

    The violence against black people is only an issue now because social media has made it one, and Glenn Martin, of Just Leadership USA (who has been working on this for years) says he thinks the tipping point is NOW (finally!). And I know you are frustrated with the gun violence work going on, but look at the states that have done something – that never would have happened 2 years ago!

    Your voice matters, and your writing has made me think and giggle, and I need it! Thank you for all you do!!

    Reply
    • Kate Mayer says

      May 29, 2015 at 11:28 am

      i need more lisa in my life. thank you!

      Reply
  2. Barbara Torris says

    May 27, 2015 at 10:42 pm

    Do what makes you happy…if you need affirmation then come to Facebook or Women of Midlife. But above all do what makes you happy. If it truly does then you will not need anyone to tell you to go on…or at least that is what I believe.

    Barbara

    Reply
    • Kate Mayer says

      May 29, 2015 at 11:28 am

      writing makes me happy for sure, and so does feedback otherwise if a tree falls in the woods …. ya know?

      Reply
  3. Robin K says

    May 28, 2015 at 6:51 pm

    I’m willing to guess you may not realize or even remember this:

    So I have and saved a set of written words from you that without question helped change the course of my life in a positive way. With those words I felt valued enough, strong enough … I referred to back to them, I needed those words from you and they made my life. True. Story. Told.

    Keep writing, keep sharing as you may have no idea how impactful it is. And this world needs them.

    Reply
    • Kate Mayer says

      May 29, 2015 at 11:27 am

      I do not remember, but I do remember loving and missing you and your tremendous talent and big heart. xo

      Reply
  4. Gracie says

    June 13, 2015 at 10:09 am

    You should never give up writing! I remember you once told me to tell, and never be afraid to tell. Rememebr that yourself! There is always room to tell! Keep up the GREAT work! <3

    Reply
  5. Brigette says

    July 18, 2015 at 2:20 pm

    I hear you. To write or not to write, that is the question… It reverberates in my head all too often. Wonderful meeting you here at BlogHer. I look forward to exploring your site.

    Reply
    • Kate Mayer says

      July 22, 2015 at 7:49 pm

      Welcome back to blogging! Can’t wait to see what you do! Thx for visit, the read, and being so kind at BlogHer. I hope we stay connected virtually until we meet up again face-to-face!

      Reply

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About Kathryn Mayer

Kathryn Mayer

An irreverent storyteller with a foul mouth and big heart, Kathryn Mayer (aka Kathy and/or Kate) is a writer, humorist, and (former) activist writing out loud with humor and grace about little life moments with big ripples, including the space between parenting and aging parents, social issues, angsty reflections of midlife, and, sigh, gun humpers. Still. Sometimes a big deal, sometimes not Mayer is a national award-winning columnist, according to the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and her essays have been recognized as Voice of … Read More Here...

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