Sometimes other bloggers read Aether Mug and are kind enough to tell me that they like it, that they've read several posts, and that they'll

The Luxurious Pain of Using My Time

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Style Pass
2025-01-09 15:00:04

Sometimes other bloggers read Aether Mug and are kind enough to tell me that they like it, that they've read several posts, and that they'll be reading the next one. They comment on what I wrote, engage in interesting and cogent conversation, ask me follow-up questions. This obviously brings me joy, because it's a kind of connection that I hope to spark with my writing.

But this joy is often tempered by a kind of pain: I seldom reciprocate by following their blogs. This is not necessarily because I don't appreciate their writing. I won't even follow blogs that I genuinely found intriguing and well-crafted. I may read a couple of posts by them because I want to be able to expand the conversation. More often than not, though, I decide not to add them to my regular reading feed.

This is a painful decision every time, and not only because it can make me feel unfair or rude ("I'm too picky to follow your writing, but you can follow mine if you want!"). It stings because it is a very conscious sacrifice on my part, a loss that I impose on myself because I have too many things to read already.

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