Chasing Wattpad

Not many typos for Wattpad...

We all like routine. We crave it. We like to settle into paths of least resistance whenever the world gives us half a chance to do so. It's just the way most of us are built.

I like drinking my one particular brand of coffee in my one particular coffee shop. I let only one girl cut my hair and I like it cut the same way each time. If she's not available then I wait until she is. I will hold on to a shirt or a pair of tennis shoes as long as I can. I like writing on Wattpad and I really don't post my stuff in many other places. Wattpad has become my go to place for my words.

And because I do all these things I have make to make some concessions. There might be better coffee out there that I will never drink. Maybe someone out there can cut my hair better. I'll rarely feel the comfort new shirts and new shoes. My writing will always be only as good as I think the Wattpad audience will tolerate.

Routine means not getting better. It means never being more than you are used to. "And it's amazing what we can get used to" (Wade Garret, Road House,1989,lol). It means not moving forward or ever knowing how good you can be if you just keep moving.

The other day I joined a writer's group on Facebook and one of the administrators came over to Wattpad and looked at my stories. He had a lot to say, but what stuck out in my mind was "Not many typos for Wattpad". This guy had a certain mindset for how good people on Wattpad are. Is he right?

Does the writing world outside of Wattpad see us as mediocre? Are they right? Are we trying hard enough on Wattpad to be good writers or have we just gotten comfortable with our mediocre selves? It's a hard thing to look at what you do and try and see it in the eyes of the world that isn't your friend on Wattpad. Sure they could be wrong, but I can't help but wonder. If I had to choose now I would say they are generally right. Wattpad has a reputation for bad writing.

So what do you do? Get out of your rut. Stop feeding Wattpad mediocre food. Put a little more effort into it. Get out of your routine of writing for Wattpad and write for you. Enjoy the act of writing for the act itself and not as a forced piece of garbled words needed for a long overdue update. Your writing will be better.

I'm not going to suggest you leave Wattpad just because the world might think it is a place for the mediocre writer. Change the view of Wattpad by becoming a better writer on Wattpad.

Make Wattpad better with your better writing.

P.S. I am talking about me when I talk about writers who need to try harder. I will change that. I will not, however, change my coffee. It's Texas Pecan. Try it. Nothing mediocre about it.