Wattpad Stole My Mind

Ways to know if you are addicted to the current site you’re on:

*You would rather stay in your room reading or writing for Watttpad then go to the pub

*You honestly think some fans are more your friends than physical people around you

*When you wake up and your votes and reads are higher you skip into the kitchen like you had the best sex of your life

*When you see a cute picture on Google, you think of a story and a title to go with it

*You have a dozen crushes on characters in books you’re reading, which makes you disinterested in actual males in real life

*You have Wattpad open on your laptop AND your iPhone at the same time

*When someone asks how your day was, you want to respond, “it was great! I got five more fans and my reads are up 1500 from last week!” but you stop yourself, because you know you’d have to explain your lack of life

*Before you brush your teeth or eat breakfast or even take your morning piss, you check wattpad

I’m a Wattpad addict.

There, I said it… first step is denial, right? They need to have a WPA meeting I can attend.

If you think you’re more obsessed than me, then I fear for your mental health and you should probably seek professional help.

You know why I’m writing this right now? Strategy, that’s right, the Watty strategy. I just wrote a chapter for one book and I wrote one yesterday for the other, now I have to wade it out and get readers hooked before I upload more. Psh, what do they expect me to do in the mean time?!

Write this, I guess.

My mind disease all started when I moved to Switzerland.

I got a job as an au pair for 6 months and I decided that living in Europe and learning French was much better than going to my sophomore year of college in Indiana. By my second week here, I read every English book their library had, here. I nearly shed a tear. Reading is an avid addiction, and one of the few I refuse to give up.

In my “new iPhone” craze, I had downloaded around a dozen book apps back in the states. I was desperate, so I slid my finger across the touch screen to the online book applications. Nook, kobo, ibooks…they all disinterested me. I clicked on a big orange W and was whisked away into the world that would end up consuming 90% of my thoughts.

My first book I read was Moonlight Madness

She mentioned a book! This is where a wattpad light bulb goes off. Now you’re thinking, maybe if I comment and then ask her to read mine, she’ll fall so in love that she’ll mention it, too! And if this random journal story happens to take off, it could be great promoting!

Anyways, it was surprisingly good. I got to the end of the development too quickly, wanting more. I moved on to The Trouble on Your Lips, Hell in Heels and Everyone Had a Mate, You’re Mine.

I couldn’t believe that people my age and younger were getting THOUSANDS of people to read their stories! I’m a fairy creative person, I’d like to think. So while I was waiting for my half a dozen book authors to update, I went to work on a master piece of my own.

I started You Taste Like Sin the day after I discovered Wattpad, November 17. Within days I had half a dozen fans and a dozen likes. My first comment made me smile ear to ear for the rest of the day. Even if that was the only person to ever read my story, I was satisfied…. Or so I thought.

Days passed and I got bored, I needed to get a different audience, I had new ideas I needed to squeeze out on virtual ink! I began getting angry at people with the clichéd werewolf stories. All they had to do was have MATE in the title and they got thousands of reads. Their grammar, spelling and plot could be worth as much as used spit, but it wouldn’t matter.

I was uploading too frequently with my new book. I started to realize if I left the chapter with a cliffhanger and waited a few days to upload, people would comment more, wanting more. My two other books I began didn’t get much immediate attention and my motivation to continue was waning.

I wanted numbers, fans, votes… I hungered for them. So, I began a werewolf story. Yes, I legitimately began a book about werewolves JUST because I knew people would read it! Pathetic…I know, no need to tell me. But tell me it doesn’t feel good that the first day I got almost 60 views, 27 votes, and 20 comments.

Yes, I keep daily statistics of all my books. I told you… I’m an addict.

It’s only been on Wattpad for four days, I uploaded the sixth chapter two hours ago, and I have 806 views, 58 votes, and 30 comments. I have a wave of fans and people telling me how amazing my writing is. All I had to do was take something I knew a mass amount of people wanted to read, and give it a small twist.

The worst part is where my head is at all day. I carry around my iPhone and check the views and votes nearly once every minute. I think I get a literal high when I wake up and my numbers have increased substantially. I go to work and hide my phone under my leg so I can read stories and check on my fans whenever I get the chance. At night, I sit and write instead of going out… like a 19 year old in Europe should be doing!

I know that all of us NOT on the What’s Hot List hates the What’s Hot List, but that’s where I got my original favorites from. Also, all of us not on it would probably cry out of joy if we made it on. Face it, the big green jealousy monster bites us all in the ass.  The sad thing is, even if I think a story looks interesting or the synopsis really pulls me in, I won’t click it. I hate the idea of someone else going up up up in the Watty world when I am glacially climbing.

Did I say pathetic yet? The Watty world started for me just wanting to share my story, see if people like my writing, and reading good books. It’s become a rat race to the red glowing updates. It’s a life consuming project I don’t know will end any time soon.

I’ve only been a member for almost three weeks, and I don’t know how to gauge if my books are going well. I see ones with hundreds and thousands of views and I get physically depressed, but mine’s like a baby, right? I keep thinking…this is perfect, I started only days after the deadline for Watty Awards 2012!!

Every time I see a cute picture on google or somewhere, I literally save it in a file “possible book covers” and think of a book to base around it! Ugh, I have a lot so far. Dammit.

Oh, cussing, that’s another thing. I cringe thinking about how many more reads and votes I would get if I advertised on Facebook… but that would give my parents the chance to read, and trust me, they would.

I know what you’re thinking, ‘she’s almost 20, she doesn’t need her parent’s approval’. OR this is what you’re thinking ‘god, me too!’. See?  And I like to steam up my novels with some material for the eyes of thirteen or older. My parents would nearly have an aneurism if they read my work. Does that make me want to make a second facebook and advertise my Wattpad? Yes. Do I have time for that? No, I’m too busy on Wattpad! I have been a faithful facebook obsessed user for some years now, but it’s sad to say my interest in that network world has diminished substantially. Remember that time in your life when likes and comments on your status were all you cared about? Ya, well I never had 300 likes on a status before.

I don’t know how many times I’m going to upload on this story, I just wanted to express my angst for my obsession. I also want to know how many other people suffer from the insanity that is Wattpad.