If I'm not shitposting on twitter all day, do I actually exist?

Hello, friends!

Today I want to talk about one something I struggle with as a freelance writer, as a person who works alone on the sofa with a cat or two for company, as somebody who needs to get on the internet regularly and shill because otherwise people fail to notice when I have a new book or story out*.

And that’s the need for validation, to be seen as working and existing, to feel like I’ve accomplished something with my day.

If 2000 words falls on a page in the forest and the writer doesn’t tell anybody about it, has a manuscript actually happened?