No author is entitled to comments, to interaction, to reblogs or likes or reviews or anything, but in a community where you’re essentially a bunch of indie writers, that’s the lifeblood that keeps people *posting*. Writing doesn’t necessarily stop, but when someone feels like no one gives a shit whether you’re sharing or not, you quit sharing.
seeing fanworks in general get less and less engagement here is making me so sad but i wanna say this: if you are still giffing, still drawing fanart, still writing fanfic your work is absolutely cherished and important. your time is never wasted.
your driveway is 60 metres. your driveway is 80 metres. your driveway is 130 metres. you can no longer see your mailbox from your window.
you swear only one squirrel lives on your property, but you have shot it seven times and it is still making a nest in your roof.
you go into town. everyone drives a pickup truck and waves hello when they see you. you wave back. you recognize everyone, but cannot remember any of their names.
you no longer try to kill the spiders. instead, you bargain desperately with them. “kill the flies, and you can stay. kill the ants. kill the cockroaches. kill the flies.” the spiders do not respond. your house is full of cobwebs. the windows are black with flies.
there is a new cat waiting on your porch to be fed. you feed it. the next day, there is a different cat on your porch. you feed it. in the night, there are hundreds of eyes watching you.
your neighbour’s cornfield gets closer to your house every year. you try to catch the attention of the person in the tractor each spring when they start plowing, so you can talk about your property line, but they never seem to see or hear you, no matter how loudly you scream.
you sit in your kitchen, eating a grilled cheese. snap, goes a mousetrap. you take a bite. snap, snap, go the mousetraps. you swallow. snap. you clear away the bodies and set up new mousetraps. snap, snap, snap.