Hello Writing World, I'm Back
Hey there. It's been a while since I've written a blog entry.
I think my last blog was when I actually quit writing. That was a few years ago and here I am... back to writing.
So where do I start?
Maybe a small trip down memory lane to compare then vs now.
I started writing on Wattpad back in 2012. It was the year I graduated as a nurse and also took the board exams. We have to wait for a few months before the results come out. During that break, I found myself reading tons and tons of books. And then one day, I had a dream and when I woke up I was like, "I have to write this down."
And I did.
I posted the story on Wattpad. Like any other writer, the growth was slow at the start. I wrote Fantasy stories and Fantasy was not the most popular genre on Wattpad. Back in 2012, the popular books were mostly YA or NA books.
Then, I wrote The Billion-Dollar Marriage Contract and that was my first successful book. The reads, votes, and comments started rolling in. And as I was writing it, the readers who discovered me through TBDMC also started reading my fantasy books. Later on, my fantasy books became more popular than my Billionaires series.
But life happened and I grew up from a college graduate to an adult with a job and responsibilities.
When I started, I wrote one chapter per day and had three ongoing books. I wrote long chapters but still posted daily. Creativity was flowing and I didn't care if my books had no outline, tons of grammatical errors, no continuity checks. Back then, I just wrote the story inside my head. The chapter posted per day is equivalent to what my mood actually was.
As time passed, I found myself having less and less time to write.
As responsibilites piled up, the time and will to write became less and less.
Also, the online community back then was toxic. Everyone abused inline comments and hate towards characters flowed to hate towards writers. Aside from that, there was also tons of mirror sites copying Wattpad without the copy-paste protection so our precious works were getting stolen.
And one day, it just became too much and I quit.
I wrote more about it in my blog titled "Why Writing Doesn't Feel the Way it Used To"
I wrote that blog post 6 years ago. And for 6 years, I quit writing online. I still read books. I still opened up my notes where I kept all my ideas and added to it.
I still wrote a bit behind the scenes when I felt nostalgic but I never posted it. During those 6 years, I kept myself busy with my career. I wanted to make a name for myself and keep earning so I can live a good life. I poured everything into making sure I did my work right and climbing up the ladder.
Another big change is that I got married.
Now, 6 years forward... what's changed?
First, the career grind paid off. I now work at a small law firm as a legal administrator (super far from Nursing, I know. lol) I love my work and I love my co-workers. Time is also flexible so it gives me time to write.
At first, I didn't really want to come back to my AerithSage account because I felt there was too much pressure. It's like all my unfinished stories were screaming at me along with my readers. Also, if I just scrapped them all and started new stories, I felt like a lot of people would be mad.
So I made a new Wattpad account. For a few months, I wrote under AlexisAstor and not as AerithSage. And it felt great! No pressure. No stress. No toxic readers.
I was back to earning my readers one by one and each one of them who read my book, "The Queen of the Ravaged" I was thankful for. It felt like writing in 2012 again where everyone was supportive and new books were given a chance.
At the same time, writing as AlexisAstor gave me my confidence back. I used to think I didn't have the skill to write anymore after going away for so long. I thought my readers would surely leave me after realizing I'm not good enough and I can't write fast enough anymore. But through this new account, new people followed me. New people told me they liked my story. New people gave me a chance.
It remade my broken self-confidence.
It was so good a feeling that I finished writing The Queen of the Ravaged in about 3 weeks. That was another confidence boost. Maybe I could really still do this after all.
Another thing is that I also reached out to some old friends from the writing community. One of them was JaysArmy. And Jay, bless her heart, is the most supportive, most loyal, most amazing friend anyone can ask for.
She helped me pick up the pieces. She became my hype girl. She helped me start again. She helped me dream again.
And so I went back to AerithSage.
I opened old drafts, read them again, and started writing. At the same time, I explored different apps to find my next home. Radish was not it. Tapas was also not it. I didn't want people to pay per chapter because some chapters were fillers and were meant to be shorter to build up the next chapters.
And that's how I decided on Inkitt and Patreon. I could have different tiers of amounts and people can choose what they can afford. Also, it's not paying per chapter but a monthly subscription.
The $4.99 tier gives access to all my ongoing and completed works. The $2.99 tier gives access to all my previously completed works.
Someone can subscribe for $2.99 and that's good for one month and binge-read all my books to make the most of their susbcription. I felt like that was a good and fair price.
And so far, everything's been okay. What I mean is what I earn from Inkitt and Patreon is not yet enough to replace my day job but there is opportunity for growth. I am thankful for each subscriber I have because with each one, I'm closer to my dream of writing full time.
So for everyone who's still here, I am back. And I am here to bring more of the stories inside my head.
I've finished writing The Heart of a King and also finished rewriting How to be a Queen.
This time around, I'll monitor the comments more carefully. I won't let people be toxic or hurtful. Even though it's hard, I will spend time to moderate my comments section. Also, this time around, I'll let you guys know when things get too tough.
I was burnt out before because I kept it all to myself. Life's problems, writing world problems, friend problems, and even love problems I kept to myself. I didn't want to show anyone any emotion because it felt like everyone was judging me and laughing at me.
I'm stronger now and more mature. I've been through tough times and survived thanks to people who were there for me.
Thank you also, my dear readers, for still being here when I returned. That was one of the craziest feelings. It brought me so much joy seeing usernames I recognized who were commenting again.
So if you're still here and reading this, thank you.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart.
This is already super long but maybe in another day, I'll write another blog post discussing what changed from writing then vs now. There's sooo many things to talk about like AI, the community, the trends, and so much more.
That's it for now. Until next time!
Love lots, AerithSage