Oliver Bateman Does the WorkVerified account

I reached a level as a writer similar to the level I reached as a powerlifter: good enough to do what I want to do for the foreseeable future, but uninterested in doing all the horrific and soul-destroying things needed to be successful at something nobody cares about

If pandering to the right audience, befriending the right people, publicly performing a "here is what must be said now" show on Twitter, etc. is some kind of performance-enhancing drug in the writing game, enabling me to take my earnings into the "high 50s," I'll stay natty

At this point I make a very good living in the private sector, and being able to say "eff this" to doubling down on a lottery ticket career as a creative or thinker or whatever we were all raised by liberal arts professors to become is so liberating

These kind of discussions are great for shaving down the follower count, getting rid of the dreamers who believe salon culture is a thing and that the Algonquin Round Table had it all that much better than George Babbitt