I Don’t Want to Read Anymore: Am I the Literary Asshole?

Hello again, my beautiful friends! Welcome back to another charming edition of Am I the Literary Asshole?, the advice column that not only holds space for defying gravity, but also holds space for your questions. I still haven’t seen Wicked, but I’ve seen all the memes. I contain multitudes!

If you didn’t catch us this past week, it’s not too late to listen to me and Jonny Diamond discuss one of your questions ON THE AIR, on The Lit Hub Podcast. Did we have a good time? Yes. Did Jonny make fun of the fact that I already put up all my Christmas decorations? He sure did! That’s called friendship and I’m grateful for it.

Now that it’s a brisk 70 degrees here in Central Florida, I thought I’d make my morning coffee a little Irish and pour in some Baileys as a treat. Let’s sit back, relax, and take a look at what you beautiful souls sent me this week:

1) Hi Kristen! I have a book coming out this spring and my family and friends have been so supportive of me along the way. Many of them have asked if I’ll sign their copies, which I am happy to do (although I have to shove down my own awkwardness in doing so), but it’s brought up the subject of the author signature.

I don’t want to use my normal signature and want to do something different (for obvious reasons, I think) but am struggling with coming up with one I can do consistently that feels like me. Can my author signature just be my first name written in print, maybe with an exclamation point at the end for fun? Or does this not “count” as having signed it, if it isn’t a true signature?

First of all, congratulations on the upcoming publication of your book. That’s so exciting! How wonderful that you get to share all of this with your friends and family. I think any small joy deserves celebrating, and this is a big one, so I hope that you’re savoring every moment!

Now, to get to your question–

It’s perfectly fine to adopt whatever signature you’d like! I think if you want to be specific about it, then consider the following:

* Choose a signature that can follow you from here on out. You won’t want to change it again—you want to keep one for your career—so whatever you choose should stand the test of time.

* Make sure that whatever signature you choose, you keep it legible enough that the reader can make out your full name. I say this from sad personal experience: my author’s signature looks like a toddler stole a pen and scribbled somewhere they shouldn’t. It’s nice to have one that people can immediately look at and know that it’s you!

* It’s perfectly fine to have a “signature” that’s just print; you’re in charge, so just go for it! I will note, however, that you might want to consider making your author signature whatever’s on the front of the book, just for clarity’s sake, so maybe your full name (first and last) plus the exclamation point?

At the end of the day, choose whatever style you like! I think mostly you just want something that’s going to feel like YOU! When the time comes to put pen to paper, you’ll know what’s right.

Moving right along! Let’s pour another steaming cup of doctored coffee and check out what’s left in the ol’ mail bag:

2) AITLA for feeling that writers should be paid well for their work? There is this widely held assumption that the love of creating should be compensation enough, and to be paid well for your work is to sell out. I think it’s fair for writers to be fueled by love for what they do AND to also be paid well. Creatives give so much of themselves and society wants to receive the benefits of their creative output without actually valuing it in return. This feels like a larger devaluing of the feminine as a whole—the invisibility yet necessity of domestic labor falls under this category—and it boils my blood.

Oh, buddy! That doesn’t make you an asshole—that makes you just like the rest of us!

It’s called capitalism and it sucks.

Certainly we want to value art from a purely creative standpoint (we make art because we love art, not just for a paycheck), but yes, creatives should be paid fairly for their work. That includes everybody under the umbrella of art: musicians, writers, visual artists, etc. Are they paid fairly? Not all the time. Not regularly. Not often.

So, maybe this question should really lean into something different. Maybe instead of asking if creatives should be compensated fairly—because we all think they should, at least anyone who’s reading this column—we can instead ask where are the places that would pay creatives fairly? How can we work to ensure that the future includes funding for all kinds of artists? What are small acts we can participate in right now that could help move this in a better direction?

I will say that some of this work starts inside community. If you aren’t part of your local arts scene, now’s your chance to get involved. Buy books from local authors, at your local independent book store. Support small presses and your local library. Help promote local events and attend them, too. Spend your time and money on arts in your community that matter.

We can hope that corporations will see the value in art, but at the end of the day, all those places really care about is making more money for the tiny percent of billionaires at the top of the pile. We can’t force people to care about artists. What we can do is support and care for each other. Capitalism is never going to care about artists.

I wish I had better answers for how to ensure that writers got paid fairly but alas, I’m only a drunken advice columnist. Sending love (and a drink or two).

Let’s share one last hot cup of coffee and another swig of Baileys while we take a look at our final question of the day:

3) Am I the asshole if I just don’t feel like reading anymore?

I don’t think this makes you an asshole! I think it means you’re tired and you need a break.

It happens to plenty of people. The world is goddamn overwhelming. Trying to add something into the mix when your brain is full up is like trying to stuff another bag of trash into an already overflowing garbage bin (not saying your brain is trash, but I am saying that mine might be).

Just let it sit empty for a minute. Try out something else: music, movies, comedy, whatever you like. Just because you don’t feel like reading right now doesn’t mean you won’t feel like reading in a couple weeks. Give yourself the opportunity to have some time off. Focus on something different.

Books will be there waiting for you when you’re ready to come back.

And that’s all we have for today, folks! Join me next time when I’m hopefully recovered from the massive amount of caffeine I just ingested.

And send me your questions!

Galaxy brain,
Dad

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Are you worried you’re the literary asshole? Ask Kristen via email at AskKristen@lithub.com, or anonymously here.