Dear writer, are you being read? How would you know?
My brother David Lee Ingersoll scripted and drew a comic book series back in the early 90s. He writes, “I loved doing Misspent Youths. I loved the characters. Doing that book was fun and exhausting and satisfying and … unprofitable. [ellipsis in original] The publisher didn’t make any money. I certainly didn’t make any money. I did draw 160 pages of comics in about a year while working a part-time job. Brave New Words … put out more issues of Misspent Youths than any other series they printed. Cancelling the series was a mutual decision – the guy behind Brave New Words was reassessing his business plan and I wanted a break to improve my art skills.”
30 years later David got a fan letter. “I just wanted to let you know that I’ve been a fan of Misspent Youths for a while now–since they came out, actually, when I was a disgruntled and disaffected teenager working in a comic shop. … [T]hose comics you put out all that time ago imprinted on and have stuck with someone since they came out.” The letter writer even repurchased all five issues during our big covid year and reread them. He says the series is “just as great as I’d remembered it (and captured much of the flavour from my hometown’s punk scene in the ’90s).”
Are you being read? We look at sales figures. When I wrote to a gay historian after I’d read a volume of his memoirs, he wrote back to say the book sold three copies. … Yeah. OK. But I read it.
We look at online stats. How many visits has many latest blog post racked up? Ooh, a few more than yesterday’s!
After the thrill of getting this fan letter David comes to this conclusion about art: “Put it out into the world. … [I]t needs to be available.”
I am publishing regularly these days. Most the feedback I get is prepublication, that is, whether the editor of the magazine or literary website likes the piece enough to publish it. After that very little. Some sites offer the opportunity to leave a comment — or a rating. And it’s nice see a smattering of likes or a share.
I just came across a site that features a few lines from some of my poems. It’s the tumblr Bibliomancy Oracle: divination through literature by Reb Livingston. I recognize the name! Livingston ran a poetry ezine called No Tell Motel. She put out a couple No Tell anthologies, too. I suggested the library buy one (and they did).
On the tumblr Livingston posts a line or three from a poem. “The concept is that literature contains ‘truths’ and speak to matters of great importance,” Livingston says, and she offers a link to one of these “truth[s]” chosen at random. Before clicking on the link, “Focus on your question or concern. Or for insight of a more general nature, simply clear your mind.”
“The Bibliomancy Oracle will divine a reading using a passage from literature. Consider the response you receive in terms of guidance, inspiration or fun. Consider the meaning and context this passage offers you. You may find it useful to meditate, read it aloud, handcopy the words or read the entire text where from the passage originates (Google can point you to the full text). It’s up to you to decide how to interpret and what to do with this message.”
The lines of mine the Oracle features are snipped from poems published at BlazeVOX, November 2019.
Maybe you should focus on some question or concern and give it a go:
