Chasing Wattpad

Is that it?

The other evening I was sitting in my living room trying to catch up with some reading I had been putting off. I left my phone in the other room so I would not be checking messages, but did leave the ringer on just in case someone called. 

Every time there is a notification from Wattpad my phone gives out a distinctive 3 second ring. I have learned to tell some things about the nature of what is going on by how separated the rings are. For instance, if I get the rings in sporadic bursts then it could be any number of people commenting or voting on a story. If the rings are really concentrated then 2 or 3 people are binge voting or commenting at the same time.

For the most part I leave notifications off and just check Wattpad when I feel like it. But sometimes I leave them on to see if I can guess what is going on with my stories. It's kind of a game with me almost.

Every once in a while there is that one reader that goes on a marathon run of my stories. I am not a fiction writer so my stuff is usually in short story form, rather compact and easy to read. On a good day my stories will each take you anywhere from 3 to 5 minutes to read each if you are a fast reader.

Today was one of those days. As I read my books, rings started coming from the other room. They were evenly spaced almost exactly 3 1/2 minutes apart. First ring for a vote and then 3 1/2 minutes later a ring for a comment and on to the next story. Somewhere down my list are a couple of longer stories and the rings separated to about 8 minutes between each one for those. If there are no interruptions from other readers I can usually tell what story the marathon reader is on at any one time (assuming they go down the list). This list itself never changes except to show your most updated story first.

Well this particular reader today went through all my 32 "works" non-stop and uninterrupted in just 4 hours. This included reading and commenting time. I did not get up to get the phone until I knew the reader was done which was about 20 minutes after that last ring. As I was about to pick up my phone it sounded that long ring again. I had close to 90 of notifications and one message and they were all from the same reader. The one single message from that reader was, "Is that it?"

I was not expecting that. I'm thinking, what the hell do you mean is that it? It wasn't enough for you today? It took me a lot to write all of that for someone to message me and say "is that it?".

Later I had 2 thoughts about this message. My first thought was, well, "is that it?". Now for me there is an easy answer. I write non-fiction. Everything I see and hear is something I can write about. I have thrown away more story ideas than there are words on this page. But what about you fiction writers? I often hear about this dreaded "writer's block". I, myself, can't picture not knowing what words to put down. I'm guessing that's just a fiction thing.

Now it's different for poets. You can't just throw words on paper (though some of you try, see "your NOT a poet and you didn't know it" in this same series) so I understand. Some of you dodo heads require inspiration. You're so cute. Good poems take time.

But all you fiction writers? What stops you? The whole world of words is yours for the taking. Can there ever be a "Is that it" for you? Will you ever stop writing now that you have started? How serious are you about this?

My second thought was about Wattpad. I can't imagine that I would stop writing. I enjoy it. So I'm stuck with it. I can imagine, though, stopping Wattpad. I have been here relatively a short time compared to many of you, but I get tired easily of these things. I have been on Facebook for a while and I get tired of it often. Sometimes I shut it down for months. I expect one day I will shut it down for good.

Plus, Wattpad cannot be the "be all and end all" of your writing world. It's just a website. Come on. Say it with me. You can do it. It's just a website.

You don't have to be on Wattpad to write. Wattpad cannot make you a better writer. You can sit in your room and write all day long and not share it with Wattpad and your writing will be just as good. It's even possible that getting off Wattpad might improve your writing. Stop writing for reads and votes and see what happens. You might surprise yourself.

There is no magic to this website. Magic, if it exists all, is in you, the writer. You decide when and where and for what reason to write your stories. 

But someday even you will have to answer the question yourself. You will have to look at a blank page and ask,

Is that it?