You Don't Have to Keep Up

Reading, writing, and staying connected

I meet with dozens of writers every week, talking through specifics of their projects and their writing lives, and if there’s one refrain I hear over and over, it’s this: “I just can’t keep up.”

Sometimes they’re talking about their own projects, yes.

Other times they’re talking about books, podcasts, and conference lectures they keep meaning to get to.

Sometimes it’s the details of their daily lives—the cleaning, the errands, the emails, the basic needs of being a person.

More often, however, they’re talking about the practicalities of the online writing life.

There’s just so much to do.

Something’s got to give.

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Most writers I know are working on book-length projects that will take them literal years to complete and even longer to publish.

In the meantime, they stay connected and current through short-form online writing, whether that be social media posts, blogs, articles, or what have you.

And the longer they’re in the writing world, the more they’ll connect with other amazing writers doing the same thing.

And the more writers in their network, the more they’ll have access to a wealth of reading material they can’t wait to get to.

The next thing they know, their physical and digital TBR’s are an avalanche of words they feel like they’ll never outrun, even if they tried.

How will they ever keep up?

They won’t of course.

None of us will.

The good news is that we don’t have to.

Nor should we try.

There will never be enough time to read all the posts, listen to all the podcasts, get to all the books.

We know this—at least in theory.

So how do we cope?

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My current approach is to think of all these offerings—the essays, the posts, the podcasts, the books—not as a feast I must consume but as a neverending buffet from which I can sample.

Thanks to the hard work of other writers and the easy availability currently afforded through libraries, bookstores, and the internet, I can sample what I like when I like.

In the mood for a whole meal? It’s right there waiting.

Feeling a bit peckish? I can sample bites here and there.

But this is a buffet, not a set meal.

I don’t have to keep up.

And neither do you.