After the Ink [PUBLISHED]

June 21, 2012

When I joined Wattpad in 2012, I was a 15 year old girl who was writing cheesy teen romance stories. Right now, in 2018, I'm a 21 year old writing cheesy teen romance stories but hopefully a little better.
I had been writing way before I joined Wattpad. In middle school, I had a friend who was writing on another website and she asked me to help her write a story.

I loved reading but I never considered writing one at that point. Figment.com was my happy place for a long time. I met so many great writers who I still keep in touch with today here on Wattpad. I remember gaining 300 followers on Figment and thinking I was famous! If you've read After The Ink (previously Her Tattoo), you should know I started it on Figment and it was one of my best stories. Embarrassing, I know haha. Anyway, I got stuck in a rut on Figment and needed somewhere else to write. I discovered Wattpad by looking up One Direction fan fiction. Even more embarrassing, I know! Long story short, I wrote 1D fan fiction for a while before I started writing other stories.
Which brings me to The Bad Boy and The Nerd (aka Outcasts).

This story has always been my baby, and it will be forever. I remember starting it and being really anxious because there were and are  sooooo many 'bad boy' stories on Wattpad and I kept asking myself, how was my story going to be different? I wrote in the middle of the night for a long time, always waking up late for school because I couldn't stop writing this story. Riley and Aiden took on lives of their own and I loved telling their story.
Until I was stuck.
There was so much going on in my life at the time to the point where I stopped posting new chapters. I felt awful, but school and life were happening.
I think that's when the supportive messages stopped coming in. I wasn't gaining as many followers as usual and the activity on my profile went downhill from there. I was that person who never finished a story.
Listen, I've been on here since Wattpad had 'fans' not followers. We also had 'statuses' rather than conversations.

It's been a wild ride. There have been moments of frustration, mostly with myself. It took a long time to get to where I am *cough* six years *cough* and sometimes I feel like it's hard for newer profiles to get going and get recognition. I know Wattpad tries to promote smaller stories, but sometimes it doesn't feel like enough.
Then there are times when I wish I hadn't taken such a big hiatus while writing Outcasts because I feel like I could've been more active with Wattpad HQ. I don't feel like it's a popularity contest between authors, but between stories. I also think it has to do more with how much activity is going on on your profile. It's just crazy to me that people who have been on Wattpad for only two or three years get asked to join panels, be ambassadors, go to HQ, and things like that.

I'm not trying to be a hater. I love the stories these authors have written and I give them major props for sticking to a schedule and staying dedicated. I'm not as disciplined and being in the writing business is very competitive. You really have to keep up.
But hey, Outcasts was published and that's all I ever wanted.

I write the stories I'm writing right now for you all. Your support for my writing has really been awesome and I feel blessed everyday for it.
Here's to many more years of writing!
P.S. Here's what the night sky looked like when I joined Wattpad 💫