Thanks for Letting Me Share | Ep. 2: I'm Not Crazy, the Internet Just Exists. (Patreon)

So it looks like my pilot got picked up for a season by me. This is episode two of my currently-Patreon-exclusive-but-who-knows podcast, which I call "Thanks for Letting Me Share" because that's how you end your share. In this episode, I talk about how easy it is for the internet to get confused by a subject that doesn't have an online presence, to the point where it distorts the perception of that subject even offline, and how that can cause harm to me William Wood personally despite everyone's best intentions my teeth hurt owie oof ouch owie dentist time.

It's like 25 minutes so it's not exactly the well-packaged and concise nuance-free headline-first communication style the internet tends to consume more easily, but I had a lot to say. Hopefully the point is still made, and that is: no matter what goofery the internet kicks up, concert etiquette is not a major concern of mine, allow me to explain. My original working title of the episode was "My Struggles with Narcissistic Personality Disorder" but I think I should save that absolute banger of a title for a rainy day. Plus it might just add to the whole thing this is about in the first place.

It's really starting to sink in just how inevitable it is that the things I say will be taken all backwards online considering the factors at play, and just how much I need to work smarter-not-harder if I want to get around the miscommunication. As much as I try to focus on being offline, if my most career-defining things only happen live and never end up on the internet, the internet will obviously see me as something entirely different than what I and my more live audience are able to see me as. Because a show can reach a thousand adults one time, and the internet will reach ten thousand kids repeatedly. I guess I have to put a full show video out publicly and free at some point, and then accept that even then miscommunication and misinformation may still largely dominate the discourse. But I hope having said this has some amount of impact, even if it's a long-form ramble that's only on my Patreon. The anxiety I describe having in this is still at play. I am embarrassed by how much it took for me to even post this here, even though I say nothing that would be controversial in a real-world offline environment, and it's only going out to a sliver of my online followers. I think I've just been stuffing these feelings down for too long and they've festered, whereas maybe I should've said something long ago. Maybe I've just been stubborn. Maybe just scared. But then again, I only feel like I truly understood what's been going on recently - something that might be obvious from the other side of the screen, but I've been too close to see.

the intro and outro music is called Fossils and yes it's extremely cool and spooky yes

Recorded an episode with Chris Dunne recently. That'll be up at some point too. I know, I imagine you're feeling like "isn't that just Life in the World to Come?" But no, I like interview him about his writing and stuff in it. It will be very long and you will hear my opinion on pop culture subjects that nobody is still talking about. I'm out of touch and proud to be. But my opinions rule. I'm not promising this will be monthly, it almost definitely won't ever be weekly, and I'm not promising that it'll go on regular podcasting platforms. It may stay a thing here just for paid members every few months forever, we'll see what happens.

Thanks for letting me share,

ww