A few weeks ago, the little angel and I found ourselves watching television in a hotel room in Topeka, Kansas. It was some chef show in which the pastry chefs had to recreate the edible forest in Willy Wonka for the original cast. 

And yes, at one point when I was watching it I did ask myself seriously?

In general, I don't like competitive reality television shows. I don't really enjoy public critiquing of any sort. I don't know why I'm a writer. But this show particularly bothered me because one woman who worked extra hard on -- well, should we say the group projects of the edible forest perhaps neglected her own stuff a little, you know, for the good of the whole. And since I'm not a reality TV afficionado or reviewer, I don't remember exactly what the judges said. But it went something like this: You should've been thinking of yourself more.

Basically, she contributed to the forest in general expecting to get credit for that and didn't really focus on her own dishes. And they sucked. I don't remember what they were, but the general consensus was that they were horrible, and when it came time for judgment day, the judges were all, you know, maybe focus on you a little more. Off with your head.

Okay, so I don't even remember if she was the one who got voted off. Beside the point.

The point is I thought to myself, well, that's pretty harsh. And it got me to thinking about the world of work and the world of writing and whether or not it's true that you should pretty much eschew the community for the sake of your own projects. Truly, there is a balance, but is it as bad as all that? Should we all be pitching each other aside in the hopes we'll make our own star shine brighter?

Perhaps we should if we are pastry chefs. See how much I learned?

But in general, I think that's a pretty shit philosophy. Right? RIGHT?