When You Feel Destroyed By Your Writing Stats, Look Away
We need to find ways to continue writing because it means something to us.
If we are crazy enough to want to be successful as a writer, we have to deal with monotony and lack of results. Learning to absorb shock today is necessary for tomorrow’s success.
That is because, deep down, we want to be a Top Writer in something, be curated for further distribution, and have millions of readers for our stories.
Except.
The monotony that we have to endure in the name of persistence is for sure. The result is a dream that we are trying hard to materialize. That means it may never come.
Can we last long enough for our dreams to come true?
It is as tough as it gets. We do not need to make it any tougher by checking our writing statistics daily. I mean, it is good to know how we are doing. It is another to be deflated by the numbers.
I am susceptible to the viewership and readership numbers. Probably vulnerable is a better word to describe that feeling.
That is because I spent a long time synthesizing my thought processes and present them on paper (electronic form counts). While I know that no one owes me a view or read, I secretly hope some people do, and they resonate with me.
It makes my day when someone gives me a positive review of my stories. Multiple highlighting overlay works pretty well for my ego too.
And every single time I start thinking that way, I know I am behaving like a loser.
As much as I love to win this writing game, no one practices for the win. In martial arts, we spend a vast majority of our time taking hits from opponents and climbing back up.
We cannot win if we never get up on our feet. We will lose if we start thinking that we will never survive the onslaught of punches that the opponent delivers.
That is why resilience is THE lesson in every Taekwondo and Muay Thai session I attended in my youth. Impatience is disastrous.
When we get tired from throwing punches in the air, we instinctively know that the sparring game is over.
He who hangs around the longest in the ring wins the game.
I take those lessons and apply them to my writing attempts. I do not know if I am going to cut it in the future. It takes time to build the tallest building in the neighborhood.
I can only focus on laying one foundation brick at a time. That means I focus on my writing, one story at a time. I may become a well-known writer tomorrow, the day after, or ten years later.
I may also start seeing $10,000 in my stripe account starting end of this month.
If I can be brutally honest — Who knows?
We are all hanging on a tight rope, working hard to make things happen. Every dream we are chasing involves a journey that is exceptionally meandering and arduous.
We do not need further discouragement from our writing statistics. I deliberately avoid the statistics. I do check for the stories that have better reception occasionally. That is all.
Avoid becoming obsessed with writing statistics keeps me going.
Our writing is not trash, even if no-one reads them today. It may also mean that we need to write better. It could mean that we need new publication exposure. It might mean that we are not good at writing that particular genre.
It is more important to type one story a day, every single day.
And maybe we will become a Top Writer in time to come.
Maybe. God knows.
Effort Is For Sure. Results Are A Maybe.
Aldric
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