Decompressing · 6:57pm May 1st, 2021
Last week I posted my newest blog "What I Learned" as a follow-up to share my thoughts about the conclusion of "One Thousand Years Ago", or at least the first part of it. I was dreading that date for several months prior because it looked like it might be the end for that story.
After I posted that blog I took a break from this site in order for the comments to accumulate more. I wanted to test how much that amount of time would accumulate bell icon notifications as a test to see how much people ultimately cared. For those of you who are curious, it's 13 in a weeks worth of time. Most of that is notifications of storing various stories into certain bookshelves. 45 read my last blog (as of this date) and two commented on it. Overall this is less than I hoped, but around what I expected realistically.
During my week of absence, I looked over the remaining chapters of "One Thousand Years Ago" that I was considering to post as a sequel book. As I looked over it and corrected some flaws wherever I spotted them (and I always find some every time I check), it dawned on me that the quality of this is just too high for it to be entirely neglected, at least in my opinion. Now I did post them as a hidden link in my last blog, but should I do more?
I have some pretty strong predictions if I do post the remaining chapters and I'm still leaning on that option. If I post those chapters I think hardly anyone will read them. I know how sequels go if the writer and the work happen to be obscure. But, of the few who do read it, they might find it really endearing. In the end, is that enough? This will at least get some worth out of it. However, if I do post those chapters, it very likely will end as a canceled or at least hiatus status. I'm leaning on the latter for about a year and if I can't write any more chapters after that time then switch it to cancel.
But I've thought about the story over and over again this past week because its fate is kind of on trial here. Most of the time I've concluded that it has a lot of potential, but I'm still uncertain if I'll ever finish it. The chapters I did complete, however, probably should see the light of day for what it's worth. If I do, I'll probably post it once a week. It won't take too long to post them all at that rate so far.
As for the story that I've posted so far, it probably has seen the last view spike it ever will have in a very long while.
Reading your last blog and this one, I think you're approaching writing wrong. It's clear that you're writing in order to become popular and get attention. I think this motivation is self-destructive. You seem to have expected to gain many readers quickly, and now that your stories didn't get many views, you feel despondent and want to give up.
Popularity won't be built up with just a couple of stories. You need to write a lot, and write well. Almost all authors on this site with thousands of followers have tens or even hundreds of stories published. Getting to that level is a journey that takes many years. You need to find something other than the dopamine hits you get from followers and comments to motivate you through that struggle, or you'll never make it to that point. I'm sure you've heard this before, but imo you should focus on writing because you love to write and you want to tell the stories that only you can. Nevermind views and followers. Eventually those will come if you stick with it long enough.
5515738
Thanks for the input. I'll give it some thought.
Incidentally, the viewership of 1k years later is improving, probably because of the sequel, but it will take some time to see how well the sequel itself does.
Funny you should say that, too. I vaguely recall giving this same advice to someone else.
On a different topic, did you find the group "Hidden Gems" because of me? The timing when you posted your comment and when you sighed up for that group coincides very closely.
5515745
Yup.