Writing isnât just sitting down and word-vomitting.
Itâs plotting your story, coming up with the characters and their personalities, coming up with their interactions, setting the mood, thinking of the right words to say for someone like that in that type of situation, wondering if your character is doing something that is out of character, wondering if youâve managed to describe them the way you see them in your head.
Itâs sitting down and struggling to bring those characters to life.Â
Itâs questioning yourself and getting that suffocating feeling in your chest when you think about your own writing.
Itâs somehow managing to put all of that into words and then editing your own writing time and time again because youâre scared of the reaction youâre going to get from nameless strangers.
Itâs questioning your own word choices, your own phrasing, your knowledge of the language, your ability to tell this story thatâs been in your head for days, weeks, months, sometimes even longer.
Itâs questioning if youâre good enough to put those thoughts into words, itâs questioning if those words are good enough.
Writing is never feeling like you did a good enough job at putting down those characters and events into words, itâs doubting yourself every step of the way.
Itâs clicking that post button and then waiting in fear of the reaction.
Writing is sometimes not getting a reaction at all.
Itâs going through the tags and finding a back-handed compliment that makes you want to cry because it just proves that your insecurities are true and that you shouldnât be writing in the first place, that youâre not good enough.
Itâs getting negative feedback because you didnât write what some nameless person wanted to read, itâs getting hate because you decide to tell your own story in your own words.
Itâs getting hate because you decided to include or not to include a smut scene in your story.
Itâs getting constant asks about updates that make you feel that youâre not worth anything to your readers, that youâre there as a robot thatâs meant to sit and be quiet and produce content that they like otherwise youâll get punished with constant asks and hate.
Writing is waiting for feedback that never comes, which makes you doubt yourself. Writing is watching other people get more feedback, which makes you want to stop writing. Writing is getting feedback, but seeing other people not get feedback, which makes you feel guilty, and makes other writers resent you and exclude you from everything.
All in all, writing is giving a large number of nameless people a part of yourself in a story that took you a long time to come up with and put into words, but also giving them the power to give their feedback, ignore your story, or spew negativity your way.Â
But, writing is a talent and Iâm proud of you for writing despite all of that. Youâre good enough and your efforts arenât going to waste. Youâre getting better at writing with every story you write. Regardless of the kind of content you write, regardless of the length, the genre, the feedback, the notes, the reblogs, the mentions⌠Youâre good enough, you have a talent, and Iâm happy youâre choosing to share it with the world. Donât let the lack of feedback or negative feedback bring you down. Donât let it turn you against other writers. Do what you love doing and the rest will come. All in good time.
