Sera Maddox Drake

New short story about a space explorer coming back to a ruined Earth: "Home."
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/1591203208-what-is-told-a-conglomeration-of-confabulations
          
          Because I had nowhere else to park it, other than making it a oneshot, which I don't like doing, I put it in what will be the "protest stories" section of _What Is Told: A Conglomeration of Confabulations_, an otherwise fantasy-oriented book. 
          
          Well, hey. It's a nameless narrator swapping stories with Geoffrey Chaucer and talking about the craft of writing with him (well, it will be when I have all the interludes and stories put in place). I suppose one of those stories being science fiction rather than fantasy probably won't be too weird, under the circumstances.

New award, lots of mini categories, only space for five books in each category, low payments - what are you waiting for?
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/404348128-firework-at-countdown-mini-awards%7E

How many years old does a book need to be for you to automatically not want to read it on Wattpad?
          
          Personally, I see five years as my limit, but that's because most Wattpad writers seem to abandon the platform within five years of joining, and I only want to read books by active Wattpadians who need algorithmic boosts to keep their books fresh in the public eye. If I see an older work and see that the author is still active on the platform, I'll read it.

Woke up with a headache that needed six extra strength Tylenol to turn down to a dull roar, since I no longer keep anything stronger in the medicine cabinet. 
          
          Today is going to be another one of those "fun" days.

I've been too exhausted and dispirited to do much writing, not to mention, I have very little free time to call my own right now - but I have managed to make some new art. 
          
          The just-for-fun stuff is in here. 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/401892706-kaleidoscope-a-new-gallery
          
          I'll post the promotional art updates another evening. 
          
          Need to get to bed now. I have to be up ridiculously early in the morning tomorrow. As usual.

So I’m on ProWritingAid for Novel November. Guess what? My posts are being put ‘in review’, even some comments. 
          
          I’ve even go this message from an admin:
          
          Bridgette 06:32 AM
          
          Hey Romiza,
          Wanted to give you a quick heads up: The team has archived your recent post, as it does not adhere to our community guidelines.
          
          Hi Romiza! Due to privacy concerns, we do not permit community members to disclose their age in posts. You will need to reword this to not specifically request teens for feedback if you'd like to repost.
          

Just a reminder: if you see someone advertising ANYTHING that invites you to go off Wattpad and fork over your money, even if it's a small amount of money, it's probably a scam.
          
          It might be the sort of "cinematic trailers," webtoons, "fan art," and "professional-looking book covers" that are what is very obviously a chatbot asks you to buy, sometimes after buttering you up with spammy, phony-feeling, slightly disjointed compliments and questions left as comments at the bottom of a chapter of one of your books. I get these effusive, sycophantic comments left in my Book of Contests all the time, so seeing a chatbot say how "inspiring" my book is and how all it needs is a webtoon or a cinematic book trailer to "really shine" is amusing. Reporting the comment, not so much. I think I've mentioned how exhausting it is to have to do this several times a day. There are other things I'd rather do with my limited spare time.
          
          Sometimes, what is advertised is a writing contest. A real-world writing contest that requires you to pay an entry fee. An entry fee that is money, because the real world does not run on follows, upvotes, and shoutouts. The contest may even be a legitimate one, although that is highly unlikely, because in the real world, nobody recruits authors from free platforms like Wattpad to enter serious contests.
          
          If somebody advertises a pay-to-play contest or fee-up-front service and invites you off Wattpad to pay up, that entity is probably hoping that by luring you off Wattpad to pay for whatever was advertised, their comment won't be considered spam (or scam).
          
          Bold of the spammer to make that assumption... 
          
          Report and block. And don't fall for it.
          
          This has been a public service announcement from someone who is VERY tired of having to report scam spam...

Debating whether I want to continue putting time and energy into this platform, or whether I just want to let being a Wattpad Creator go, abandon Wattpad altogether, and move on to other pastures. 
          
          Aside from my "But, Mr Adams!" problem (that's a 1776 reference, in case you were wondering) there are a number of other factors right now that are making me mull this over. 
          
          Having to screenshot, report, and block chatbots practically every day gets exhausting. 
          
          Knowing that most of the people who read my work only do so because they have a gun put to their heads (metaphotically speaking) is disheartening. So is knowing that I'd be a LOT more successful on this platform if only I'd just write serialized fiction in a popular genre, preferably in a way that accommodates people who are used to smartphones, soundbites, tropes, and ease of digestion. (Not that this problem is specific to Wattpad. It's universal. Actually, so are the bots, but screenshot-and-report is less of an onerous duty elsewhere because I don't bother doing it elsewhere).
          
           I feel a little out of place here due to being old enough to be the average Wattpadian's grandparent. 
          
          Knowing that I'm good enough to maybe get on the radar, but will never be great enough to make the big time, largely because I write what I like to read and when I try to push the English language until it screams, the end result is a literary experiment best left in some mad scientist's laboratory in a brain jar marked "ABBY NORMAL," hurts. (See earlier complaint about how "people who read me mostly do so because it's transactional or some other form of coercion is involved" - but really, the "you'll never be good enough" whisper I get from the back of my mind is a factor here as well).
          
          I'm just tired. Very, very tired.

Would tweaking Ancilla by adding a new graphic page at the end just to make it "updated" enough to give it the algorithmic boost it needs to get its hashtag listings back disqualify it from potentially advancing in the Ambys?
          
          Losing all but my worst hashtag ratings is absolutely killing visibility. I'm at the end of my rope.

READ THIS SCIENCE FICTION DYSTOPIAN STORY. It's amazing. (It might be a bit much for the squeamish. I probably should have read the blurb before jumping in feet-first. The story looks like it's going to get grim before long. The blurb that I read after ploughing through all the chapters indicated that there will be some interesting questions raised about what it means to be human as the main character loses vestiges of his humanity). 
          
          https://www.wattpad.com/story/403454276-the-mist