Well. I have failed as a parent …. My younger kid is writing fiction. Of all the terrible life choices that will bring only misery.
Replies
Time to introduce the concept of the “nonfiction novel.” Get a wedge in there.
aug 31, 2025, 11:27 pm • 0 0 • view
fanfic is full of joy and companionship! 🎉
sep 1, 2025, 1:02 am • 2 0 • view
Better than slaving away at minimum wage for a corrupt company somewhere...don't know freedom...
sep 1, 2025, 12:03 am • 0 0 • view
At least they aren't Republicans. The horror!
sep 1, 2025, 12:53 am • 0 0 • view
Writing might not make them rich but it might make them happy? 🤷
aug 31, 2025, 11:17 pm • 9 0 • view
One of mine is majoring in Studio Art. Like, you've watched me struggle YOUR WHOLE LIFE to make rent in my art-adjacent occupation and you think this is a viable thing to major in? But they're getting an education, it wasn't supposed to be a job training program, I tell myself
sep 1, 2025, 1:02 am • 1 0 • view
So, it's a story about feudalism
sep 1, 2025, 12:22 pm • 0 0 • view
great way to find their people though, LiveJournal is still a thing, right?
aug 31, 2025, 11:42 pm • 9 0 • view
LJ got taken over by Russian bots ten years ago, have no idea what its been like since
sep 1, 2025, 12:02 am • 3 0 • view
(mostly joking)
sep 1, 2025, 12:31 am • 1 0 • view
Ah fair. Text only lacks nuance without the affixed emoji or shorthand
sep 1, 2025, 12:32 am • 1 0 • view
It is, but Russian-owned. What you'd probably want instead is Dreamwidth.
sep 1, 2025, 12:15 am • 6 0 • view
Sure!!!!
aug 31, 2025, 11:44 pm • 3 0 • view
(Obligatory) I hope it has a happy ending.
aug 31, 2025, 11:07 pm • 30 1 • view
I cackled. Perfect response.
sep 1, 2025, 1:24 am • 3 0 • view
lol
aug 31, 2025, 11:10 pm • 9 0 • view
At least they’re not writing nonfiction & depressed all the time.
sep 1, 2025, 1:59 am • 2 0 • view
My condolences. Always the worst to find out your child is a writer.
aug 31, 2025, 11:07 pm • 4 0 • view
A catastrophe.
aug 31, 2025, 11:10 pm • 7 0 • view
Thoughts and prayers
aug 31, 2025, 11:12 pm • 3 0 • view
Maybe it’s just a phase. Don’t lose hope.
aug 31, 2025, 11:15 pm • 3 0 • view
It's just a phase. They'll grow out of it when they look around, explore, and discover a passion for the excitement and adventure of accounting.
sep 1, 2025, 3:23 pm • 0 0 • view
I started out as a software engineer. I switched to video game design, then TV, then academia, then novel writing, i.e., the definition of a steady downhill climb. Your kid is doing you a favor by skipping the middle men. (And if they write as compellingly as you do, they have a shot.)
sep 1, 2025, 1:26 pm • 0 0 • view
Condolences
aug 31, 2025, 11:12 pm • 3 1 • view
My parents visibly cringed when I told them I would be an English major. Forty years later, I retired as a software engineer. Language has immeasurable power.
aug 31, 2025, 11:34 pm • 6 0 • view
Same, brother. (Only mine was an English minor.) 💪
sep 1, 2025, 6:58 am • 1 0 • view
Solidarity, elder godchild is a sculptor and younger godchild is a musician. Worse, a composer.
sep 1, 2025, 2:12 am • 3 0 • view
[thinking back to hours upon hours of writing angsty artsy-ambitious high-school poetry] Could be worse?
aug 31, 2025, 11:13 pm • 2 0 • view
Could be worse. Your kid could have chosen radio as a career. Spouses of radio employees may be eligible for compensation
aug 31, 2025, 11:17 pm • 2 0 • view
My condolences.
aug 31, 2025, 11:37 pm • 5 0 • view
My kid makes comics…
sep 1, 2025, 1:22 am • 0 0 • view
I feel your pain. My granddaughter is not only writing fiction, she's writing song lyrics. And darn it all, they are both good.
sep 1, 2025, 2:29 am • 0 0 • view
But. They read me three whole sentences so our level of trust is high.
aug 31, 2025, 11:11 pm • 132 0 • view
I promise, there's no job in the capitalist hellscape that isn't full of misery 🫠
aug 31, 2025, 11:39 pm • 4 0 • view
Basically, whatever they love encourage it. Because there aren't really any stable good jobs anymore, so you might as well struggle doing something you love.
aug 31, 2025, 11:44 pm • 8 0 • view
Do you know what I do for a living?
sep 1, 2025, 1:03 am • 12 0 • view
Sing to fish, right?
sep 1, 2025, 1:23 am • 2 0 • view
Yeah, but you seemed to be going down a path of "oh no don't do what I did"
sep 1, 2025, 1:30 am • 2 0 • view
I just was saying that in case you are at any point feeling like this is a particularly painful path - when that might have been true 10-15 years ago, it's not now. All paths are unstable and full of suffering 😅
sep 1, 2025, 1:32 am • 2 0 • view
Mine has a budding career in film cause my anecdotes from the years in tv trenches were better than my tech writer years! Sigh…
aug 31, 2025, 11:52 pm • 2 0 • view
My deepest condolences.
aug 31, 2025, 11:07 pm • 8 0 • view
Be grateful he doesn't want to be an artist
aug 31, 2025, 11:17 pm • 1 0 • view
You can josh all you want, but I can see the swelling pride in between every word.
sep 1, 2025, 1:05 am • 3 0 • view
Facts
sep 1, 2025, 1:06 am • 2 0 • view
You sound like my parents when I announced I wanted to be a journalist
aug 31, 2025, 11:15 pm • 24 0 • view
as long as they write what they know
sep 1, 2025, 1:02 am • 1 0 • view
easy when you're young
sep 1, 2025, 1:03 am • 0 0 • view
I hear you. My 13 year old is writing/has started dozens of stories of impenetrable Undertale alternate universe fan fiction stories. And also the Afton family, which is apparently in Five Nights at Freddie’s but not the part with the murder robots.
sep 1, 2025, 1:07 am • 0 0 • view
A likely story...
aug 31, 2025, 11:27 pm • 4 0 • view
At least they didn't confess that they want to get into grad school someday. It could be worse!
aug 31, 2025, 11:12 pm • 2 0 • view
My daughter got her degree in Graphic Arts during COVID. No internship. Then AI started doing graphic design work, so…she’s unemployed.
sep 1, 2025, 2:49 am • 0 0 • view
Could be worse. Could be poetry.
aug 31, 2025, 11:17 pm • 1 0 • view