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I noticed this in my WordPress Spam folder today:
“The next time I read a blog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as much as this one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, but I actually thought youd have something interesting to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you could fix if you werent too busy looking for attention.”
Intending to callously delete this comment, I abruptly paused with my index finger hovering over the left mouse button. What if this is legitimate feedback? What if the glaring absence of apostrophes is because the commenter had been moved to point out my whiny, attention-seeking ways on their android phone, but lacked sufficient time to insert proper punctuation?
I realize that I am, indeed, a bit of a publicity whore. From the beginning, I have spent a lot of time writing about myself and my pet peeves without so much as a infinitesimal thought of what anyone who might come across my blog might enjoy. I have even “borrowed” the work of others when I was too lazy to post my own thoughts.
At times, however, I did believe I had something amusing, or interesting to say. Whether this was simple narcissism – as the commenter suggests – or something else, I cannot say. I imagine everyone believes themselves to be witty, gracious, and a touch philosophical. I am no exception. I would even go so far as to say that an author must imagine themselves to be all these things and more, else their foray into the hazardous (to the ego) and mysterious world of writing would end before it even began.