Nobody wants to read your shit. It isn’t that people are mean or cruel. They’re just busy.
Steven Pressfield
This, by far, is the hardest lesson for new writers. Visual artists can put an image up on Instagram and get an instant response. The best new writers can do is put up snippets or upload to Wattpad or other free sites and hope to get some feedback.
I’ve been writing almost daily for just over two and a half years now and writing this blog for nearly two. You could say I have never suffered from writer’s block but I have no idea about the quality of what I am putting out there except for the occasional comment or book purchase.
Creatives, you have to stoke the inner fire some way other than feedback or sales. You have to have ambition that is independent of outside forces and that ambition has to be able to withstand the negative reviews that will invariably come.
Ambition is vital, but dangerous: it is a keen motive and a driving force, but over what edge can it drive the artist?
Eric Maisel
That edge is the is the point at which you have tried everything and still… “failed”. I met a woman who had given herself twelve months to start making money from her blog. She was at the nine month mark and had a few hundred followers but not at all close to making any money. I gave myself five years to…to do what? What exactly am I trying to do here?
Feature Photo by Luke Stackpoole on Unsplash
I read your shit <3
Hahahaha I know and I thank you 🙏
P.S. You found a $7 bookshop??
Ooh yes. There’s a few on the coast. Very dangerous.
It sounds it! I must say, I am very disappointed with the digital reading experience, which is in itself a blow because I really was so in love with the idea of being able access so many books without having to actually carry or store them. It turns out nothing beats a hardcopy, especially when you can pick one up for $7 without having to give Jeff Bezos money he will never deserve.
Yup. I hate reading on a device. I don’t mind audio books though but nothing beats a book.