The second of my publicity campaigns for Ghosts and Ballyhoo blew up, crashed to the ground in flames, and ended in total absurdity. It was, as a German soldier said about the Italian front in World War I, a "clown apocalypse."

So why bother? Two different banner-ad companies didn't even respond to my queries. A company absolutely vital to my publicity campaign missed the deadline they'd promised in writing to meet--missed it by a month--so I wasn't able to send out any review copies of my book before the campaign began. A person I'd corresponded with in the past didn't bother to answer when I asked him if my pitch was effective.

Seriously, why bother? Nobody seems to care about anybody except themselves. Standards are slipping all over the place. Look at the news and marvel at the lies, corruption, and degradation. Everyone just pays lip service to ideals instead of actually living by them.

Why bother, when you seem alone in trying to improve?

Because you're not alone. That's why I bother.

I do it for myself, but I also do it for all of you out there who haven't given up and who want to keep on improving, too.

Let's show the fuckers that we're better than them. We'll keep improving while they keep devolving until they're bizarre protohumans covered in fur, with grapefruit-sized braincases stuffed full of regrets, misery, and confusion at how it all happened.

Why bother? Because I'm not one of them. That's why.