Anonymous Comment

I want to respond to the comment that one –me — might be exasperated by all the hassles involved in marketing one’s own book, that there is so much dreck out there that makes money, that knowing this may make one siimply capitulate to the capitalists. To answer this is for me to explain why I continued to write for 40 years, replete with rejections that were supportive as well as cutting and cruel as I set out to make myself a writer. I was moved to explain me to me, to deal with my depression, to understand my life, to seek personal clarity — see “Young Man” in Down to a Sunless Sea. I wanted to play an instrument — no go, no encouragement; I wanted to act — no go, no support; I wanted to direct — no go, no support. I wanted meaning — no go, no support. What I did have going for me, as I look back in awe and amazement, as I look back as a psychotherapist upon my life, was an unusual capacity to endure, to persevere. I was a bright child who did not know that, and my parents should have known that but they were not bright, undereducated, issue-ridden, la-la-la (see “Herbie” in the above book). In short, I had to parent myself. Ah, the agonies of benign neglect. In short, I taught myself how to write. With all this going on I feel that I cannot conceive of not writing as an expression of artistic self, and marketing is just a pain that I keep in perspective. Adversity way beyond this has grated my self. When I am in significant conflict, I recall my wife’s  dead body on a gurney as I said my last goodbye. This memory keeps me steady…By the way, please sign your name when you comment. If i share who I am in my response, give me your name.