Well, this has been quite the wake up call · 3:10am Sep 7th, 2012
Last night when I logged off to go to bed, I had 41 watchers. Today, when I woke up, I had 40. Someone had decided that they no longer wanted to hear if I posted something new. And although it seems like a small thing, it has got me to doing some thinking as an author.
I'll be honest. When I first saw that someone had un-watched me when I woke up this morning, my reaction was that of annoyance, similar to the kind I was feeling in this blog from a couple of months ago about anonymous thumbs down. I felt annoyed that someone had decided to stop watching me without telling me why. Was it because I wasn't making enough new content, quickly? Was it because I make too many blog posts? Maybe it was because they were awaiting one of my planned stories, A Pimp Named Spikeback 2 for example, and grew tired of waiting for it. Whatever it was, the fact that they had decided to stop watching.me ticked me off a bit since I had no reason to know why they did so. However, after thinking it over today, it doesn't annoy me. It makes me wonder about my performance as an author.
Firstly, I don't put out new content as much as I want to. I have the ideas in my head. I have a fantastic editor who's always ready to help me. And yet, somehow, my stories still can go up to weeks, even months without being updated. There's no other explanation for it, that right there is just plain laziness on my part. If I would have given my writing the time I should have been giving, This Can't Be Happening would probably be done, Don't Go To Sleep would have at least two more chapters to it, and A Pimp Named Spikeback 2 would already have started. That needs to change. And no, I'm not talking about me thinking that I need to dedicate my life to fan fiction writing, I just mean that there's probably an extra hour or two of laziness that I could be spending writing. And I intend to change that from now on.
There's a couple of other things that bother me when I look at my performance as an author, but the tl;dr version is: I want to stop being so lazy and unproductive. I want to be giving you guys new content constantly. Sure, there will be some weeks where I'll have to focus on school work or do other things, but I could be giving so much more.
I had my birthday today. How old am I? Well, I can go see a Rated R movie at the theater by myself, so there's a hint. And on today, my birthday, I am making a pledge to stop being such a lazy dolt. If I have some free time and I'm sitting here on my computer, I should do some writing. I'm setting a goal for myself. I want This Can't Be Happening to be at its finale by the end of this month. I also want two more chapters on Don't Go To Sleep done by then as well. By the end of October I want Don't Go To Sleep to be near its end and I want A Pimp Named Spikeback 2 to be in progress. And by the end of this year, I want all the aforementioned stories to be on my "Completed" list, alongside half of the other stories I have on my "Planned" list. Plus, I'll also do some occasional one-shots when inspiration strikes, like the Slenderman one I want to do. I can't promise anything until I make it happen, but I do give you guys my word that I am setting this goal and will do my best to stick to it.
This time, no irrelevant gif or video to end on. I just wanted to let you guys know that I want to become more serious now and intend to try my best to improve myself to do so. For all I know, the person that decided to stop watching me just randomly saw the alert about my blog post last night and decided it was time to thin out their following list. Maybe it wasn't anything personal at all. But none the less, it has lit a fire under my ass. So to the person that un-watched me, I give you my thanks. This has really motivated me to better myself.
*slowly inches towards the 'unwatch' button*
...
Just kidding of course! Don't feel obliged to turn this into a job for the sake of watchers though. Just keep enjoying doing what you do.
I'm glad you're finally taking my advice from long ago: "Writing (Not just for fanfiction) takes time. You need to make time for it in order to become a good writer." I should have realized, at the time, that you'd be more interested in things like spending time with friends or your girlfriend, and that writing wasn't a top priority.
However, that means I'm going to issue forth a challenge.
Submit an update to any of your stories (any at all) to my PM Box by Sunday. That includes sitting down, writing without stopping, resting for one or two days, going back, embellishing important details, fleshing out scenes, editing spelling mistakes, and removing pointless text. The "resting" period is actually the most important: when you go back and read what you wrote a day or so after you wrote it, you can look at your work, not as its artist, but as a reader; and therefore, you can get a more honest look at your own talent.
Good luck!