Hey there, howdy!
Welcome back to another enormously entertaining episode of Am I the Literary Asshole?, an advice column that runs on Steel Reserve and Writer’s Tears. I’m your host, Kristen Arnett, and I’m about to head off to the great state of Texas. That’s right, I’m leaving Florida behind (for just a little while). I’ll be the visiting writer this fall at the Michener Center at UT Austin! Don’t worry, I’ll be back home in December after classes end. But while I’m there working, I’m looking forward to hanging out with all my Texas buddies. Do you think they greet you with a six-pack of Lone Star when you cross over the state line? Much to consider.
This column sails on, however! How about we crack open a couple of cold ones? Let’s cheers and say bon voyage, Dad! Safe travels!
Bottom’s up, here’s our first question of the day:
1) Dear Dad, I used to be an avid fantasy reader and writer. Then two years ago, I fell out of love with the genre quite suddenly and unexpectedly. The change seems to be permanent. I’ve read barely any speculative fiction since then, and honestly, I can’t see myself ever going back. As a reader, I’ve fallen in love with contemporary and historical fiction as well as memoirs and narrative nonfiction. As a writer, though, I’m struggling. I’ve spent most of the last two years working on a fantasy novel. At first I still loved it, despite my changing reading tastes, then I continued to work on it because of the sunk cost fallacy and because my friends, family, and writing group all seemed to genuinely love it (whereas with my previous project, they were encouraging, but I got the sense they didn’t really “get it”).
