Saturday, November 9, 2013

I feel like a cat. I'm dying of curiosity.

Why is it that people will take the time to read something and not take a minute to leave a comment? Are they afraid of being disliked because they left a negative comment? Or do they feel they are not qualified to comment? Do they just not care?
I don't know if there is a way to track how many people read what I post here on G+ but on Wattpad I can track the number of people who read my WIP. Each chapter is posted separately so I can track how many read each part.
According to the numbers, about 30% of the ones who read chapter 1 continue to read the next chapters. Of those, 90% go on to read all of them. The problem is that out of the total number of people only 5% leave a comment.
As a writer, I am left floating in the clouds. How can I improve? What are my weak spots? I would like to become the best writer I can be but without feedback I have no direction.
I understand that there are plenty of writers out there who write because they have to. The stories are in their heads and they don't feel right until they can get that story in writing. However, some of us have to fight with our inner demons on a daily basis to be able to write. We are constantly hearing a voice in our mind that tells us we are never going to be any good. Nobody cares if we ever write another thing. Why bother?
The story is still there and I desperately want to write it but the physical act of picking up a pencil and putting it to paper is sometimes beyond me.
What brought this whole thing about was several weeks ago an established author somehow stumbled upon my WIP on WattPad. I had been in a slump, not being able to write or even post anything here on G+. This author left a very encouraging comment and decided to "Follow" me. That was nice since I have several other followers, but when I checked out his profile, I found that he had dozens of followers himself but I was the only one he was following. That was enough to duct tape shut the mouth of my demon and I've been able to write almost every day since.