In the world of being an unknown author, praise is rare. It’s rare enough to hear someone has heard you’re a writer or even read your work, but to run into someone who not only reads your work but tells you they enjoy what you write and think you’re a good writer is inspiring. The long hours of staring at an empty screen attempting to find a story to fill it, the uncertainty if anyone is going to read the piece of crap let alone enjoy it, and the certainty that it’ll be a long time before you see the fruits of your labor. As a writer, this is your reality. Hearing that someone enjoys your work makes it all worth it.
There is a lot of negativity in the world. People who couldn’t achieve their dreams feel it necessary to knock every other person down not so either of them feel any better, but so the negative person feels a little less like a failure in their own pursuits if others fail too. If everyone were like this, there’d be no art, no creativity, no good TV shows, no movies, no great books. We’d all be slaves in a factory producing bare essentials leaping closer and closer to the escape of death. Similar to communism, but at least the upper echelon of communists still had art hanging around.
The world and the people in it are cruel. Both will beat the hope and joy out of you if you let them. No one is going to value your dream or believe in it like you can. Negativity is like a hole in a ship; a constant stream, even if just from a small source, can eventually allow enough in to sink the whole ship. Keep your goals and dreams alive and don’t listen to the people who are being negative simply because they couldn’t achieve their own goals but continuously listen to those who push you further and support you.
I cannot tell you how awesome it feels when someone you know or a complete stranger tells you they enjoy reading your work. It’s an elating feeling that makes all the time, effort, and uncertainty worth it.
Drew Schroeder 