I Don't Expect My Writer Friends to Read My Work

To be honest, I don't have time to read everything I write either

Walter Rhein

Apr 01, 2025

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A drawing of a quill pen in front of a bottle of ink. The caption at the top reads “Don’t use the stock image with the quill pen.” There’s a cartoon boy at the bottom saying, “How do you like that Justin?” The caption on the bottom reads, “Writer jokes.” — This cartoon references the style guide of the Writing Cooperative which prohibits the use of overused photos—Image by Walter Rhein

We live in an era of petty conflict. You can get in trouble with family and friends if you don’t click “like” on their vacation pictures quickly enough.

“I posted our photos from the Grand Canyon yesterday, but you didn’t comment on any of them. What’s the matter with you?”

“Uh, maybe the algorithm hid the photos from me?”

“Don’t go blaming it on the algorithm. You don’t even know what that is!”

“My battery was dead?”

“That’s not true because I’ve been watching you sit there with your nose in the phone for the last two hours!”

You get the point.

Writers are notoriously sensitive people and nobody likes to have their work ignored. So, it might surprise you to hear that I don’t expect my writer friends to keep up-to-date with everything I publish. I understand that they don’t have time to read it. I don’t read their work either. Yet, I respect their talent and insight.

How do all of these contradictions fit together? I’ll tell you.

Editing is not the same as reading

The only time I expect one of my writer friends to read any of my work is when I submit a story for publication. Even then, they’re not really reading my story. They’re editing it. There’s a difference.

Reading is done for enjoyment. You sit back and allow the words to flow over you. You trust in the writer’s decisions.

For editing, you have to split your mind into two parts. In one part of your mind, you develop your own preconception of the article’s potential. In the other part of your mind, you acknowledge the reality of the words on the page. As you edit, you squint so that the two perceptions of the article are superimposed upon each other.

Whenever you perceive an area of discrepancy, you make a mark.

Editing takes a lot more mental energy than writing. To be honest, I read virtually everything from an editor’s perspective. That’s why, when an article is done, it’s not relevant to me anymore. That’s like calling in a second doctor to look at a patient who has already been stitched up.

“Why did you call me in? There’s nothing for me to do.”

I don’t even remember my own articles

It’s astonishing to me that I can peruse the titles of the articles I’ve published in the last few weeks and find that I have absolutely no memory of them.

I think it could be compared to looking through emails you’ve deleted from your inbox. That represents work that has been finished. You aren’t wasting mental energy thinking about that. Once it goes into the trash, it’s over.

I guess, in a sense, publishing an article could be compared to sending it to the trash. Or, at least, it has been removed from the “to do” stack that’s towering over your desk.

There have been many times when I’ve stumbled across one of my old articles and read it with absolute delight. I’ve seen quotes attributed to me and thought, “That’s pretty good, did I actually say that?”

I fully expect that when the time comes for me to retire, I‘ll be able to spend my golden years finally giving my work the attention it deserves. Once I’m no longer writing, I can put aside the editor and simply read for enjoyment.

My writer friends are like mechanics

If my car is running fine, it’s of absolutely no interest to my mechanic. He might see me rolling down the road and smile and wave, but there’s no reason for me to stop and chat.

There will be time for talk when my car stops running. Death, taxes, and breakdowns are all inevitable.

When I have a problem, I show up at his garage and he pops the hood. He doesn’t care if the car looks sleek or clean. He just wants to get in there and get his hands dirty and diagnose the issue. He’ll tap a wrench against his chin as he stares off into the unfathomable coil of machinery, and I can perceive the gears turning in his mind.

In the same sense, I don’t bring finished works to my writer friends. Instead, I dump a pile of parts on their desk, and they say, “Oh! Goody! Let’s put this back together.”

Like a mechanic, I need them when the writing isn’t working, not when it is.

How do writers recommend each other?

I subscribe to a lot of my writer friends. I diligently read the titles that turn up before sending the emails to the trash. Every couple of weeks, I’m mindful to actually read one and then I include a link to it in my newsletter.

There are times when I tell people, “There’s this great writer you should know.”

They say, “Well, what has she written?”

And I’m forced to respond, “I don’t know. But believe me, she’s great!”

That sentence is actually true. It’s true because I know the writer’s talents as an editor, and I can hear their knowledge in their comments when we chat. I have regularly scheduled meetings with a couple of writers. They provide insight that makes my life a whole lot easier. But if I tried to go through and read everything they wrote, I wouldn’t have time to write anything myself.

I don’t expect my readers to read all my work

The fact of the matter is that I write a lot of words every day. I write so much that I only have time to read my work as an editor, not as a reader. Every now and then I’ll repurpose an old story and feature it on a new platform, and even then I usually find a half dozen things to change.

Sometimes I feel guilty when I send a title from an author friend to the trash. At the very least, I try to open the email and scroll to the bottom. But I want to emphasize that I don’t begrudge anyone who passes on some of my titles.

I don’t want anyone to feel an obligation to read my work. If you’re reading out of obligation, I’ve already failed. That’s not sustainable. It’s my job to compel you to click on the title, and then I have to capture you in the first few lines.

If that doesn’t happen, it’s not you, it’s me.

Chipping away at the weight of the world

If there are days when you don’t have energy to go through my deluge of ideas, I don’t blame you. Writers constantly work through the towering stack of mental notes that they carry like a boulder on their shoulders. We write the articles, we cast them into the world, and we forget about them.

The weight on our back demands our attention, not the remnants we manage to chip off and discard.

When we need the help of our writer friends, it’s to ease the burden. Once an article is done, the problem has been solved. Writers lean on each other for support when the solution is still unclear.

So, to all my writer friends, know that I appreciate your talent even if I don’t read your work. I also know you feel the same.