My stories aren't for others. I write for my own pleasure. Writing what I love with characters I enjoy the company of is why I write. "Almost A Girl" caught a lot of derogatory remarks. Readers didn't like the way Buddy-Barbara was treated. They didn't like my sentence structure. They didn't like a lot of the misspelled and non definition right words. I loved their candid posts. Some a little too personal but most were aimed at the story, characters, and plot.
Of course I loved the comments from those who raved about the same things others trashed. It was people voicing their opinions. Either way, if others enjoy reading my stories, or want to be like NYT critics and read to find mistakes, I thank them. I don't always leave a comment on every story I read. Expecting others to is a little narcissists. They read the story, I hope they didn't waste their time. God only gives each of us so much of it. I have some who take their precious time and send me corrections in grammar and spelling. I thank them and love them dearly.
The bottom line is I write for my own pleasure. Some people like gardening, fishing, shopping, etc. I love writing. Dozens of stories, maybe hundreds, are scattered across my computers, some lost in dead HD, others in dead computers, corrupted files, etc. Most will never be read by another person. It's okay, most fishermen never come home with fish every time either. We do our own thing for the same reason. We love what we do. And if we get to share the fish or the story we don't expect thanks or payback. We already been paid in something money can never replace or buy. Simple selfish pleasures for our own self.
If anyone doesn't like the way I write, blame Cathy. She was the one who dragged me over here to BigCloset. Love you Cathy darling, but I'm not accepting responsibility for this.
Have fun with life and stop trying to take it too seriously. I promise with all my heart and soul, it's too damn short to not poke at it with a forked stick. Enjoy the ride no matter what. Life is great or life sucks doesn't depend on others. It is what one makes of it themselves.
always,
Barb
Comments
If I Comment On a Story
... it will be positive. If I have a comment about spelling, grammar, word usage, etc. I will PM the author. I too write for my pleasure, but it certainly doesn't hurt when I get the reaction I got from Discovery.
Portia
I'm not sure if selfish is the right word
You might be writing for yourself, but you are sharing your stories with all of us. I think that critics completely forget that they are not paying for the stories that they read here.
As far as spelling and word choice goes, what is the problem anyway? I know that I can interpret what the author intended to say and it hardly slows me down. If there are egregious (my word of the day) errors made in word selection, I do the same thing that Portia would do and communicate with the author.
The most important thing that any reader should remember is that they should respect the author of the story as much as they demand that the author respect them.
I am very glad that you choose to share your stories with us.
Comments
Well, you must be doing something right because you get comments. Some of these people are too lazy to write themselves so they criticise the work of others.
Fuck em.
IMVHO writing for yourself is
IMVHO writing for yourself is really the only way you CAN write. They're your stories, they should be what you want rather than have their content dictated by readers. If they don't like it, they don't have to read.
Debs xxxx
Who Care
who cares as long as you enjoy writing , some people just need to be negative and that is their problem , English is hard to speak and even harder to write . personally it has always been my foreign language when I was in high school LOL. Keep up the good work KUDOS
P.S. have them check out the side rules
HUGS
Well Said!
Barb I think you have stated what we as writers all feel. We write stories for ourselves, we choose to share these stories. There are people out there who would just rather focus on the negative whether it be grammar, spelling or content. Let them be that was. Enjoy yourself and keeping writing for YOURSELF!
Plus if you are sharing your stories with us, how are you being selfish?
Kris