Washington

Advice | Asking Eric: Self-published author struggles with jealousy

Published

2 years ago

July 4, 2024

Advice | Asking Eric: Self-published author struggles with jealousy

Welcome to “Asking Eric,” a new daily advice column by R. Eric Thomas, which replaces Amy Dickinson’s “Ask Amy.” You can read her last column here.

Dear Eric: I’m a self-published fiction author. I’m really struggling with jealousy and despair. Every time I see a published book or step into a bookstore, I feel this wave of sadness. I’m trying to get my books out there, get whatever reviews I can, and promote myself on social media but it feels impossible.

A friend just told me she won’t try out a new author unless they have thousands of good reviews on Amazon or Goodreads. My last book got about 20 good reviews after weeks of hustling. How do I keep going? How can I redirect my thoughts when the jealousy/despair hits?

Author: I worry you’re tracking your achievements using someone else’s yardstick. You’ve published a book. At some point in the past, that was the goal. So, you have already achieved one metric of success. Of course, we all harbor dreams of acclaim, but those dreams are so rarely right-sized. Do you want to be a famous author or do you want to be an author who is reaching readers who appreciate you?

This is a career field where jealousy waits around every corner, but other people’s success doesn’t take anything away from us. You’re not in competition with other authors, you’re in competition with your own expectations. Ask yourself: If you got thousands of reviews, would that feel like enough? You are already enough so let’s reframe your goals to help you feel that more often.

Your friend is entitled to her own selection process but thousands of reviews is an unrealistic number. To get that, any author, even the Emily Henrys and John Grishams, needs the support of dozens, if not hundreds of people employed by the big publishing houses. Meanwhile, you worked your tail off and got those 20 reviews on your own. That’s huge!

If there’s an author whose career you want to emulate, reach out to them to find out the nuts and bolts of how they got to where they are, but make sure that comparison will help you. As writer Freddie DeBoer recently pointed out in an issue of his Substack newsletter titled “Publishing is Designed to Make Most Authors Feel Like Losers Even While the Industry Makes Money,” “writing is also an intensely personal endeavor, and so rejection by the various apparatchiks who decide who’s in and who’s out can feel especially cruel.” Have a good think about whose approval you want (hopefully your own) and what you’re trying to achieve. Remind yourself that the authors you see may have different goals than you and probably also feel that old jealousy.

Lastly, I can’t say enough about building relationships with independent booksellers and librarians. Get to know the ones in your area. Even if you’re exclusively publishing e-books, these pros can help you understand the decision-making that leads readers to books, and eventually to those online review sites.

Dear Eric: I am in my mid-60s. Sometimes when I meet people I haven’t seen for a long time, say from college, I hear “you haven’t changed a bit.” Back then I had shoulder length hair. Today, I’m bald and what hair I have left is cut very short. How do I respond to such nonsense while maintaining a good attitude toward them?

— Hair Yesterday, Gone Today

Hair: I understand your sentiment as a fellow member of the shaved head club (it’s cheaper! It’s cooler! But oh the sunburns!). Still, you should take the compliment in the spirit it’s given. Of course you’ve changed physically, but maybe your energy is the same. Or maybe they just think it’s flattering. If the mood suits say, “Oh, I’ve changed — I got even better.”

Dear Eric: My partner (husband) and I have been together for 18 years. My sister-in-law created a “family tree” and gave copies to all family members as a gift. On closer inspection, my “husband” was left off the family tree indicating that I am single. My sister-in-law and her family do not believe in gay marriage. What should I do about this slight?

Marriage: It’s a good thing your relationship’s existence isn’t dependent upon what your sister-in-law doesn’t believe in. Long-term relationships aren’t Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny, they’re mostly taking out the garbage and texting each other things to pick up from the grocery store. (They’re also emotional support, caretaking, and commitment, and all that good stuff.) I’m sure you’ve already had this banging-your-head-against-the-wall conversation with your in-law, but you should voice your displeasure about the tree as a way of setting an expectation about the respect you want. Once you’ve said your piece, throw the “gift” in the trash and order your own correct tree and give it to your family.

(Send questions to R. Eric Thomas at eric@askingeric.com or P.O. Box 22474, Philadelphia, PA 19110. Follow him on Instagram and sign up for his weekly newsletter at rericthomas.com.)

2024 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Washington

The Next Sphere Is Coming To Washington D.C.

Published

7 hours ago

January 19, 2026

Press Room

The Next Sphere Is Coming To Washington D.C.

America is going to get a second Sphere, and it’s coming to the Washington D.C. metro area.

Sphere Entertainment, the company behind the Las Vegas landmark, says that it has inked a deal with the state of Maryland, Prince George’s County, and Peterson Companies to develop and build a second Sphere venue at National Harbor, a major tourism destination in the area.

Notably, Sphere says the plan is to create what it is calling its first “smaller-scale” design, with plans for a 6,000 seat venue, compared to the 18,600 seats at the Las Vegas Sphere. The project will be financed with public and private funding, including approximately $200 million in state, local, and private incentives.

While it will be smaller than the original Sphere in Las Vegas, the company says it will still have the distinct “Exosphere” that defines the exterior of the original, while the interior theater will have what it says will be “the world’s highest-resolution LED screen.”

A rendering released by the company showed the Sphere close to the Potomac near the existing MGM Grand.

“Our focus has always been on creating a global network of Spheres across forward-looking cities,” said James Dolan, executive chairman and CEO of Sphere Entertainment. “Sphere is a new experiential medium. With a commitment to bringing innovative opportunities to residents and visitors, Governor Moore, County Executive Braveboy, the State of Maryland, and Prince George’s County recognize the potential for a Sphere at National Harbor to elevate and advance immersive experiences across the area.”

“Maryland has a long history of providing world-class entertainment and we could not be more excited to work with Sphere Entertainment to bring this cutting-edge project to life,” added Governor Wes Moore. “This will be one of the largest economic development projects in Prince George’s County history – proving once again our state is the best place in the country to bring dreams to life. We’re excited for what this means for our people, and how it will showcase the best of what Maryland has to offer to everyone who visits.”

Sphere has become a major tourist attraction in Las Vegas, a city with no shortage of them. While the venue is best known for its concerts and residencies, it also has daily programming, most notably a remastered version of The Wizard of Oz, and the original documentary film Postcard From Earth. It’s safe to assume that the Maryland Sphere will follow the same strategy, albeit on a slightly smaller scale.

National Harbor is home to The Capital Wheel, a giant ferris wheel with views of D.C., as well as an MGM Grand casino and other tourist attractions.

The National Harbor Sphere is the third planned version of the venue, after the Las Vegas original and another under construction in Abu Dhabi.

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Washington

History not lost on Tom Izzo during Michigan State visit to Washington

Published

20 hours ago

January 18, 2026

Press Room

History not lost on Tom Izzo during Michigan State visit to Washington

Seattle — Tom Izzo and his Michigan State team were on hallowed ground for practice in the lead-up to Saturday’s 80-63 win at Washington. Ancestral ground, even, and not just for the six indigenous tribes whose land the university was built on.

Izzo and his team got to practice on a court dedicated to Marv Harshman, who in a way is Izzo’s coaching tree grandfather.

Harshman was a longtime coach at Washington State from 1958 to 1971, where from 1964 on he mentored a young assistant named Jud Heathcote. Heathcote then went to Montana and then Michigan State, where he coached the Magic Johnson-led 1979 national championship team and was a two-time Big Ten coach of the year. He also mentored another young assistant named Tom Izzo, who worked for him from 1983 until he handed him the reins to his team in 1995.

All these years later, Izzo — a national champion whose long list of accolades include the Big Ten’s all-time wins record with 366 and counting — still shares frequent memories of his mentor Heathcote. That was fresh on his mind this weekend.

“There’s a lot of good things about here, mostly because of Jud and all the stories he told me about Washington,” Izzo said.

Back in East Lansing, Heathcote used to bring a retired Harshman into practices in the fall. He’d send Izzo into a classroom to learn from the source of his own coaching lessons.

“Jud would tell me, ‘Go talk to Marv. You’ll learn more basketball in an afternoon,’” Izzo said. “And I’d go in that room, and Marv would take the chalkboard and it was covered with stuff. And then Jud came in and he said, ‘Did you screw up my assistant?’ And I loved Marv Harshman. I absolutely loved him. I thought he was a brilliant mind at 80-something.”

Harshman died in 2013, but before then he got to see the Washington practice court dedicated in his honor in 2008. After Washington State let him walk in 1971, Harshman went across the state to Seattle and coached the Huskies from then until his retirement in 1985, when he was immediately inducted in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Heathcote died in 2017 at the age of 90.

Izzo said he brought Harshman’s son, Dave, in to speak with his team Friday after practice.

“I’ll always have a soft spot for the Harshman family,” Izzo said, “… and a lot of that’s because of Jud.”

In the MSU-Washington series, the Spartans notched their first win in Seattle on Saturday. The last time they met at Washington was Dec. 30, 1957. The Huskies won that one, 71-69.

The Spartans are 6-2 against Washington all-time, though none of those games pitted the Spartans against Harshman’s squads.

cearegood@detroitnews.com

@ConnorEaregood

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Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say

Published

1 day ago

January 18, 2026

Press Room

Pentagon readies 1,500 troops to possibly deploy to Minnesota, US media say

Jan 18 (Reuters) – The Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota, the site of large protests against the government’s deportation drive, U.S. media reported on Sunday.

The army placed the units on prepare-to-deploy orders in case violence in the northern state escalates, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed defense officials, adding that it is not clear whether any of them will be sent.

The White House told the Post in a statement that it is typical for the Pentagon “to be prepared for any decision the President may or may not make.” The Pentagon and the White House did not immediately respond to requests from Reuters for comment.

President Donald Trump threatened on Thursday to use the Insurrection Act to deploy military forces if officials in the state do not stop protesters from targeting immigration officials after a surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

THREAT OF TROOPS FOLLOWS SURGE OF IMMIGRATION AGENTS

“If the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don’t obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.

The soldiers subject to deployment specialize in cold-weather operations and are assigned to two U.S. Army infantry battalions under the 11th Airborne Division, which is based in Alaska, the Post and ABC News reported.

Confrontations between residents and federal officers have become increasingly tense in Minneapolis, Minnesota’s most-populous city, after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, on January 7 as she was driving away after being ordered to exit her car.

Trump, a Republican, has sent nearly 3,000 federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol to Minneapolis and neighboring St. Paul since early last week, as part of a wave of interventions, mostly to cities run by Democratic politicians.

He has said troop deployments in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Memphis and Portland, Oregon, are necessary to fight crime and protect federal property and personnel from protesters. But this month he said he was removing the National Guard from Chicago, Los Angeles and Portland, which have faced legal setbacks and challenges.

Local leaders have accused the president of federal overreach and of exaggerating isolated episodes of violence to justify sending in troops.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, against whom the Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation, has mobilized the state’s National Guard, opens new tab to support local law enforcement and emergency management agencies, the state Department of Public Safety posted on X on Saturday.

Trump has repeatedly invoked a scandal around the theft of federal funds intended for social-welfare programs in Minnesota as a rationale for sending immigration agents in. The president and administration officials have repeatedly singled out the state’s community of Somali immigrants.

The Insurrection Act is a federal law that gives the president the power to deploy the military or federalize National Guard troops inside the U.S. to quell domestic uprisings.

The law can be invoked when there are “unlawful obstructions, combinations or assemblages or rebellion” against federal authority. If the president deems those conditions have been met, he may use the armed forces to take actions “to enforce those laws or suppress the rebellion.

Reporting by Chandni Shah in Bengaluru; Editing by Tom Hogue and William Mallard

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab

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