Who Reads Warp & Woof?

At Least, Who Would If I Promoted It … ?

Warp & Woof, the blog, first appeared on Ground Hog Day, 2017.  I have continued to post to it over the past seven years mostly because it feels good to write. Word Press-provided statistics of views, visitors, subscribers, and comments are not encouraging. Mostly I only get Likes, not comments, and those don’t necessarily correlate with reading the article. Should I promote my blog? And why?

Clearly, it’s not intended to be an economic endeavor. I’m not Substack material – those people are established journalists who have built their reputations at mainstream media outlets before deciding they could do better as independent agents. But this is not to say that I don’t imagine an audience for Warp & Woof. And my imagined audience is more than my personal friends and relatives – in fact, they’re not even included! I don’t usually write about shared experiences or concerns of my personal circle. There once was a Facebook Messenger chat room, but it grew moribund, everybody dropped out – I have no active online friends now, on Facebook or elsewhere.

My source material is mostly what I read, often triggered by introspective pondering, or by an implied deadline for product, either from a writers’ workshop or my own impatience for a new post. In the end, I write because it makes me feel good, not for my ego, but perhaps for my superego, to use that old-fashioned Freudian term. I write about “Things That Matter,” Warp & Woof’s subtitle. My readers, if they exist at all, would be people like me.  If there are no “people like me,” then I must search for some common bond to share with my hypothetical readers – something I feel but they may feel as well. It would be far easier to simply assume that if somebody paid me (by buying my work) that would be an indication of its value. My assumption is such a situation will never occur.

Some of the highest rated posts in Warp & Woof (by Word Press engagement measures) are those in which I felt the least intellectual stake, but the highest emotional stake – like practical pieces about basement renovation, or experiences with grandchildren. Perhaps that should tell me something. Could it be that those readers who are “like me” don’t have the same political, social, or economic predispositions that I believe give me my identity? Not that my tastes in music (the Beats page) or cars (the Totems page) fare any better than my op-ed styles. The more emotional, experiential pieces seem to do better than those heavily research-based pieces. It gives me serious doubts about whether all my Wikipedia cites do any good!

I’ve participated in writers’ groups for the entire lifespan of Warp & Woof. My first enrollment in Arlington County’s “Community Learning” Daytime Writers workshop coincided with the launch of the blog. Writers’ groups are probably a requirement for any regular production schedule of blog posts, unless you have an editor who demands a schedule. My production goes down from one post per week when enrolled in a workshop to barely one per month when I’m not enrolled. But do those writers’ groups improve my writing? It seems, after seven years, that the quality of my writing has been reasonably consistent – not sure I’ve learned anything! The nature of the topics I cover may have changed, including possible overuse of research links, but the quality of my language has not changed much.

Production rates for new posts are of little consequence, though, if nobody reads them! Unless the therapeutic value of writing outweighs the communication value, I must question the role of those workshops. Maybe I’m underplaying that therapeutic value. It’s true that in-person classroom experiences DO contribute to greater social connection (virtual workshops less so). And workshops are the only audience that ever gives me feedback for my writing. Yet, I’m troubled by the realization that I have never found that audience of people like me in any workshop. I guess they don’t enroll in the workshops I’ve found. Even if they’re not exactly people like me, though, they do read my posts and comment on them. But are they interested? I keep asking myself that question.

Related to the question of my audience’s interest level is the counterbalancing bad feeling that I sometimes get from these groups. I have occasionally been intimidated by group members and even felt that group leaders were patronizing me. The leaders are, after all, being paid to make me feel good! The intimidation comes both from writers who are demonstrably BETTER at their craft than me (I can think of two or three), and by group members openly hostile to the ideas I’m trying to convey – a sort of belligerence that may imply I’m making my point, but which still makes me feel like I’ve failed. If I wanted to incite, it would be toward a shared goal with me, not in opposition to me! Fortunately, this situation is rare, but has characterized at least one member of a past group. Sometimes, such hostility even occurs inside my family (both wife and elder son have questioned some of my assertions), but they can justify their skepticism – they know me too well.

The first type of intimidation should be constructive – I should learn from those more skilled than me. But invariably, when I encounter such impressive writing skill, it feels unattainable for somebody like me who merely writes blog posts – they are fiction writers, a higher calling for sure!

When all is said and done, it is modesty that prohibits me from promoting my blog. Perhaps it’s the imposter syndrome at work. Do I really have any right to expound on these topics? If somebody else could do the promos, that would probably be fine with me. Social media make promotion easy – you just pay for a “boost.” Word Press and Facebook both have simple mechanisms for it. But I can’t overcome my reluctance to go there – if you need to buy exposure, it can’t be worth much. So, it’s beginning to look like I’m stuck with reliance on assigning tags and Google search,  a few Facebook and maybe Threads followers (oh, yes, Twitter or ‘X’ too), and whatever writers’ groups I can come up with for my promotion. I’m more than a little curious whether this post will get even a Like! We’ll see …

–– William Sundwick