Chasing Wattpad

Where does your writing live?

My writing lives far out in the uninhabited end of Wattpad country. No where near valley of the featured story or the mountain of a million reads. It's much farther out. Somewhere near the lonely forest of forgotten words, or at least the ones that were never read. I love it out here. It's quiet, and quiet is good for the writing soul.

I am not in love with writing. I write because sometimes I have a story to tell and if I don't sit down and write it will bug me, sometimes. If I don't have a story to tell I don't have an overwhelming desire to write like I know some of you do. And I sure as hell don't have a need to make up a story just for the hell of it. That has never been my passion. Writing is something I do, not something I am. At any one point during a writing session, if someone offered me a chocolate kiss to stop writing for that day I would take the chocolate kiss. I really would. But I bought a bag of them yesterday so I don't have to worry about that today.

That is why I don't really relate to many of you on Wattpad. I don't want to be a writer. At least not in the way I think many of you do. I'd like to write one good book though. Just one good book from beginning to end and see what that looks like. Just one, to hold it in my hand and see how that makes me feel. I want people to take a look at it and decide if the want to read it. Maybe even decide if they like it enough to want to own it. I do want to see how that feels too. It is possible, though, that I might not care for that feeling at all. It might not be all that people make it out to be, and I do know I would have written it anyway because that is not why I write.

When I do write I do want people to read it and take something from it. I feel this way because sometimes I feel what I have to say is sometimes what people need to hear. I may be wrong, but that is what I feel and probably the only thing that fuels my future writing. But I could be entirely wrong about that too. Who knows? It's still a mystery.

Wattpad, as great as it is, is not made for me. It wasn't designed with me in mind, not even close. That is okay. I don't think there is anything out there designed with me in mind. Nor do I need anything to be designed with me in mind. Technology really isn't the friend to writers that many of us think it is. Most sites and apps designed for writers have so many distractions. Wattpad is no different. It will take as much from you as it gives. You have to be willing to pay that price. Some days I am, and some days I'm not.

I take Wattpad vacations all the time. I don't plan them, they just happen. Even now I am not writing this on Wattpad. I am writing it on a program I got a couple of years back. When you start it up it gives you a blank page with a dark background and green lettering. I love that because it reminds me of the computers of decades ago. They all started out that way when portables computers first came out in the early eighties. It also has a setting that makes the clacking sound of the old classic typewriter. I use that all the time. In my head I tell myself don't let that sound stop. Keep that sound going and you'll be doing fine. You'll be writing.

So, wherever your writing lives on Wattpad don't worry about it. I have said it before and I'll say it again. Wattpad is not the be all end all of your writing life. It just isn't. Don't get caught up in that nonsense.

I hope all of you have a great writing week. I really do. And remember, the only thing you really need is a blank page. The rest is just noise. So, get writing writer. What are you waiting for? You can't have any of my chocolate kisses. Go write.