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I've left comments that encouraged authors to write for themselves; write the stories they want to tell and not care if their stories are popular. What hogwash. I couldn't follow my own advice. I wish I could but I can't. That makes me a hypocrite. So be it.
I first started writing for fun. Then I wrote for therapy. Eventually, I wanted to help support sites like this one by writing stories to help attract more readers (and donating when I have the money). I want transgender stories to become more mainstream in the hope of forcing out intolerance. Unfortunately, I don't see my stories as helping much.
I'm happy that I had one popular story. I can quit writing and continue to support this site by leaving a comment for every story I read. That's the best I can do for now.
- Terry
Comments
Terry - I have liked everything of yours I have read so far!
Terry,
I have enjoyed all that I have read so far. I admit I have a backlog of your stories to get through, but I liked Phantom Boobs very much, and also Haunted by a Promise is very good! I see that you have another one that I missed earlier today, I'll be reading that soon!
I hope that you reconsider!
Hugs,
Kristy
Dear Terry: Keep writing,
Dear Terry:
Keep writing, its a good catharsis for the mind and soul. I have not read a lot on this site in over a year because I was not contributing. Today I submitted a story for the All saints contest. I read your blogs and I suddenly got a bit of my muse back.
You write and I'll read, that is a promise.
Jill Micayla
May you have a wonderful today and a better tomorrow
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
Don't do it. Don't leave, that is
I haven't probably read everything you have read. But, none of what I've read was bad, and some was quite good. They can't all be 2000 or even 1500 hit stories.
I doubt there is any story here or anywhere, even with best selling novelists, that strikes a chord with everyone.
HUGs, and keep writing for those who do like your stuff
One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness.
It usually comes back to you.
Holly
One of the most difficult things to give away is kindness.
It usually comes back to you.
Holly
Terry, take it easy if you must but docontinue to write
You have written some good stuff here. Distant Queen was particularly good.
Some additional proofing would have helped a couple of them but in general they have been interesting and thoughtful. Do write more when you feel so inclined.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Writing is support too.
Aww, come on, Terry. You do some good stories. I have read, enjoyed, and commented on (I hope) more than one of your stories. Don't let this down mood stop you from doing something that you are obviously good at. Which is telling stories. Writers are a dime a dozen, but a real story teller is rare. I firmly believe you are one of those. You have good ideas, and tell the stories in a way that have people reading them and wanting more. So there.
Please don't give up.
Terry, you just march right on back here and start writing...
I will not quit 500 times.
Seriously, Your work is good. You have G R E A T promise.
Rome wasn't built in a day and my stories are not all that good and I've been at it for... a little longer than I care to think about.
If you don't write, you don't improve.
Continue... even today my own stories draw criticism which sometimes helps and sometime doesn't. I imagine you have the same difficulty... We all do so why should you be any different?
By the same token, humm 1923 silver... Oh where was I? ah by the same token I have found that only about 1% of the people who like one's material will say so, whereas almost 5% who do not like it will say so.
This stacks the odds in the favor of dislike so you need to remember these proportions.
Multiply the likes by 5 before doing any comparisons.
Now get back to that keyboard and start writing or I'll come over there, grab you by the ear and march you over to the computer.
God Bless You
Teddi
Terrynaut. The sprite in all of us.
I just saw your blog, because it's Sunday, and I have a little time.
The one thing that I've learned about writing is, that it is a waste
of time. Unless you are one of the lucky thousand or so who get
well paid for doing it, it seems like a foolish indulgence for people
with other lives requiring their constant attention.
Feedback is never what you wish, even when its better than what
you might have hoped. I'm pretty lucky, when I make folks cry,
but there is never going to be enough feedback to keep an author
going unless you are one of the lucky few who are retired and who
can entertain themselves by writing every day.
On the other hand...
How many people can actually tell a story. Even better, how
many can 'craft' a story well enough to make anyone want to
comment at all? You only need to look at some of the stories
that folks put out there, to know that is rare; even though, I
admit that this is an easy place to do this, and not a fair test of
authorship skills, because so many readers here are very deeply
driven to the themes we tend build our stories around.
Then again, they are also very clever and discerning of a good
effort, and even more so they are so very receptive of a clever story.
I don't think you should write for therapy, even though I personally
find these stories cathartic.
I don't think you should write only to support a site, even though
we all want to do that, being so grateful to have a place such as this
as close as our computer.
I don't think you should feel the pressure to be anything that you are
not perfectly happy with.
I'm not a very good author, and certainly not good enough to be
giving any advice on anything except on being the worlds biggest
comment whore. Being a functional illiterate, I make so many mistakes
that I shouldn't even bother with any of this…
I have these stories though. I love to share them; and when I have
the time, and when I don't feel too guilty to use it doing something that's
so pointless, I find myself sojourning the most remarkable of places:
Candlelit castle balls, or the cockpit of a concord jet. Hospitals filled
with love and hope, and even wooded valleys where Unicorns dwell.
That's why I still like to write. My need to read these stories is waning,
and I have absolutely no time for anything. Except perhaps, every
once in a while, an occasional dream.
Hold on to your dreams, Terry. Don't confuse them with anything as
trivial as a need to post or solicit comments on a story. When you are
ready, there will still be plenty of people here who will deeply appreciate
you, like I do.
Respectfully,
Sarah Lynn Morgan
Comment slut
You're normal. Writing strictly for yourself or not expecting feedback is much like communist ideology: at first glance, it seems to be a seductive Utopia, but in practice, the sterility of it is suited to robots and the Borg, not real people. It's human nature to want to hear a few words of appreciation and to be rewarded for their efforts.
Aardvark
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
"Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony."
Mahatma Gandhi
I am a proud hypocrite
>I couldn't follow my own advice. I wish I could but I can't. That makes me a hypocrite. So be it.
Everyone who expresses an ideal eventually falls short of their ideal. You can call that hypocrisy, however please keep in mind that the only people who aren't hypocrites are those with no ideals. Ideals are essential -- they are what keeps us continuing to strive, instead of sitting on our asses griping about all the hypocrites out there.
Sometimes we find an ideal just doesn't fit. It doesn't make sense just to write for yourself, especially if you want your stories to force out intolerance at the same time. You can't reach both those goals.
Ideals evolve and so do we. It's okay to take a break and spend some time figuring out what's next. That's different from quitting. Never quit.