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.

2 comments:

  1. Wow, I was thinking there would be a TON of comments to this post! I will answer your question as it applies to me. I have been reading all of your blogs so far, starting with the most recent and working backwards. Which is probably the wrong order to do things! And after posting my comment I will probably start reading from the beginning.
    I didn't post a comment until now because I didn't feel I had anything useful to say. I liked what I read. I was confused by much of what was happening in the stories, but I realize that is because I am only catching a glimpse. They are interesting enough to make me want to read more. But none of those are really helpful comments! Not to mention that I am not a very qualified writer to be making an in-depth judgments, even if I were to try!
    However, it seems you do not care about that. So, I will attempt to critique each blog to the best of my abilities! :D

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  2. Hey poulsbogirl, I love any and all comments and enjoyed reading yours. I belong to a number of writers groups on Google + and my blog posts show up there. I did get a bunch of comments there. If you don't know what Google + is, go to google and sent up a g-mail account there (it's free). Once you have that, you will see your name at the top with a + next to it. Click on that and you will be given the option to join any number of groups. You can start out with one called the Writers Discussion Group (WDG). You will also be able to ask people to be your friend on G+. The more friends you have, the more posts you will see. Give it a shot. It's a lot better than Facebook or Twitter. If you want to read more, I have the first five chapters (plus prologue) of my WIP, "The Eyes of the Deluti" posted at www.wattpad.com/RolandB. Will be updating it soon. Hope you enjoy. Roland :)

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