Soviet Years (Chapter 2 of Memoir)

I recently got scolded a couple of times for my writing. One guy criticized the quality of my work, saying…

“You should be ashamed. I could only imagine how painful reading more would be!”

Then another reader said,

“I followed you for insights on Russia. I think you do far less than you did. I can imagine you might feel constrained to say what you really know and feel, because Putin’s regime can do scary things to your friends and family at home. I am not interested in your running because I’m not a runner and never will be!

I don’t take any of it personally. As for quality — well, yes, a lot of my writing on Medium is quick and casual; I’m not trying to be Tolstoy.

Now, regarding Russia. Whether I write about Russia or not has nothing to do with Putin’s regime doing ‘scary things.’ My general rule is to be honest, share meaningful insights (if I have them), and avoid ‘milking’ certain topics. Some of my stories went viral when the war against Ukraine began, but I’m not going to write about Russia forever. I haven’t been to Russia in eleven years. If I don’t have meaningful insights or opinions to share, I am not going to force my “Russia” writing.

That said, I do have unique insights into Russia, particularly the period spanning the 1980s to the 2000s. I’ve been working on a memoir for a while now, but finishing it has been a struggle. Writing a book is hard — it’s nothing like blogging on Medium. I’m finally taking it…