I've read way too much self-help crapola. It's making me think that everything I write has to have some sort of 'You Go Girl' message...kind of depressing.

I really don't think Shakespeare ever felt obligated to shape his writing around the self-empowerment of his audience. If Hamlet went to therapy and healed from the shame of his Oedipal longings, forgave his step-father, and created a mutual "containing" relationship with Ophelia, would we really give a shit?

Really, where would the canon of literature be if writers historically felt compelled to make sure all their works were uplifting, heartening, and directed towards the goal of "healing"? If Jay Gatsby faced the (obvious) neglect by his mother (why else would he find Daisy hot?) and Ernest Hemingway joined AA (and a few other 12-step programs) and Virginia Woolf watched The Secret and practiced the Law of Attraction, and Emily Dickenson took meds for her agoraphobia...what would we do for that hour in high school (YouTube Studies)?!

I'm kind of worried about pursuing a career as a book writer as I'm worried that nobody ('cept Oprah) reads anymore (according to a New Yorker article it's on the decline). What if reading is becoming some kind of twentieth century past time, like listening to the phonograph or telling fireside stories?

Just for today, I can have a writing depression.