The Low Low Magic Middle

I just got done writing about David Siftry's essay about the Magic Middle, the 150,000+ writers floating around the Internet who have at least 20 links to their site from other writers. "These are blogs that are interesting, topical, and influential, and in some cases are radically changing the economics of trade publishing," he writes, but I'll tell you what, sitting over here in the Low Low Magic Middle, it still feels like most of your stories disappear into a black hole.

It reminded me of The Story of the Worst Job I Ever Had, a terrible year and a half spent working as an over-aged book clerk in New York City and wondering if I could ever support myself as a writer. But I survived, and I wrote a story about it. In the Low Low Magic Middle of Life, a good story is the most important thing...