As some of you may remember, I previously mentioned in my articles that I am also a writer in Tumblr.
It is there where I started to really see for myself that, "hey, I'm kinda good at this". It is there where I started nurturing the writing skills I have.
I mostly write poetries there. Poems about my battle with depression, the feelings I went through while battling depression, and some random bit of happiness in my life.
My Tumblr account is a diary of some sorts. A look into the soul of who I truly am.
I stayed there for 2 years and eventually left when the friends I made there deactivated their accounts. I found that it is not as fun to write when I do not have interactions to look forward to.
I stopped when my followers were almost 21,000. The number seemed unreal now, and even then. It was a number I never thouhht I would reach.
While I was thankful for their endless support, I knew that I needed to stop before I burn myself out of any love left for writing. Because as it was, I was only writing to please everyone not write what my heart and soul is telling me.
It is a journey filled with lessons I wished I learned early on. So I am hoping to share the 5 most important things I learned in my own wrting journey for anyone who is just starting out.
People will try to bring you down
As you are starting out, you are bound to make a lot of mistakes. Some of which might be something a person viewed as a silly thing to be mistaken at.
They will not be satisfied until they let you know about it. They will say words to attack your self-esteem and your work.
When you are a newbie, these words will feel like a prophecy.
"You are never going to get anywhere. Just stop this nonsense."
When you receive this sentence in anyway (yes when, not if), I want you to remind yourself why you are writing.
Is it because of fame? Is it because of money? Is it for yourself? Is it for sime specific group of people?
Answering questions like these help you pinpoint your priority. Knowing your priority is important to know which comments you will need to pay more attention to.
If you are looking to be a famous writer and earn money, you might have to schedule an appointment to some known editor.
If you are in for yourself, then you do not need to worry yourselves over their comments. You are writing to release something inside of you, it is not your responsibility to cater to their tastes.
Not everyone will like your work
This is such a hard pill to swallow if you are a people pleaser. The idea of someone disliking your work might send you to some crying fest. However, people have different tastes. If they do not like your works then it just means that they are not the right audience for you.
You need not to change how your write to please a group of people who dislike your work. Focus on the support you are getting instead of on the detractors.
There will be silent supporters
Yes, it sounds weird. How can they be supporters if they are silent about it?
Well, I am one of those silent supporters. I read the works of my favorite authors and admire them. I liked their posts and barely leave any comments.
Why?
Well, I am not that good at leaving traces of me online haha. I wanted to be as anonymous as possible before. It is only now that I am leqrning that interacting with people I admire is a fun experience.
So if ever you feel like you are not seen, know that your silent supporters are cheering on you.
The support is endless
You will not run out of the support you can get from the writing community. As much as there are loud detractors there are those who will not hesitate to support you.
There are those who will defend you if you are ever the target of some attack. They will be your friends and inspiration.
Validation should come from within
This is the most important thing to remember when you start onbyour writing journey.
The validation you seek should be the one from yourself.
It is normal to feel some envy sometimes. When you see others doing better than you. But you have a choice then. Will you be bitter about rheir success or use it to be your drive to continue?
Just a story, when I was starting out, I had this admiration to one Tumblr user. She has 16,000 followers. I remember being so amazed and being sure that there is no way I will ever reach that count of followers.
But in just my 2 years there, I surpassed my own expectations.
So be your own number one fan. Do not expect others to unconditionally support you. They might do that but if you seek for their support every time you feel low, you might find yourself losing your passion in doing what you love.
This is all that I want to share today. This is just my personal experience guys. I hope that in some way, I could be of help to someone starting out. Feel free to let me know if there are more lessons you want to add to this list.
If you want to have a new friend to talk to about random things, feel free to reach out to me:
Telegram: @zehrasky
noise.cash: ZehraSky
Tumblr: Zehrasky
Thank you for your time! I hope you all have a wonderful day ahead.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I think one of the most important things is learning that we have to please ourselves before we can please others. And to accept that not everyone is going to like what we write, even if we think it is wonderful, sometimes is hard.