Writing on Reedsy

I have written a fair number of short stories. I went to the trouble of self-publishing some of them, which I shamefully admit was very expensive. I even paid for a marketing campaign, which did next to nothing. It really hit home to me how useless self-publishing was, when I showed up at a bookstore with a bunch of copies of my book, and they told me they don’t sell self-published books. After this I realized all that money had been effectively wasted.

So, the next stage in my plan is to win a writing competition. If I can do that, maybe I can get a traditional publisher to take on my stories into print. There are some big writing competitions that are held every year, which I have entered, but to keep myself writing regularly I also enter the weekly writing competition on Reedsy. I’ve been busy submitting work to this weekly writing competition for a couple of months, but no wins yet.

This week’s writing prompt? Centre your story around someone who cannot separate their dreams from reality. And sadly, this is perhaps something I know all too well. Why do I continue to submit to this writing competition when I am lucky to break 10 likes on a story, let alone one comment? A good friend once told me that writing should be something I’m happy to do for myself, and lately I’ve given that proposition a bit more thought. If I’m constantly getting the same amount of likes and comments, then why should I keep coming back? Do I not have what it takes?

But if I write just for the joy of writing, then I guess I’m not succumbing to the desire for validation from others. Don’t get me wrong, nothing is ever going to take away the joy I get when I refresh the page and see some new activity on my stories, but maybe if I like writing, I should consider at least some of the motivation as coming from myself and what I think.

My friend (Anatoly), disagreed with me in part on the definition, or purpose of art. Back in year 11, I was taught that one of the definitions of art is that it is communication. This rings true with me today, as I struggle to think of making something that nobody else but myself would ever experience. Anatoly on the other hand, thought I should enjoy writing just to see my skills and technique improve. Can we settle on a happy medium? Maybe both are extremes to be avoided?

And what about the ultimate goal, to get published? Why do I even want to get published? Especially if right now my stories are getting subpar feedback? What’s the point of getting published if you’re not good enough?

I think getting published is really about money. If you can say your getting paid to do something you love, you’re in a small minority. Being paid to write means you don’t have to default to something else to make ends meet. Of course, it also is probably one of the greatest forms of validation you can get. I am doing something I’m good at, and being recognized for it.

So, should I keep dreaming about getting published? It's good to have dreams. They motivate us and push us to achieve something. But maybe I should be enjoying the journey. Every week that I enter this writing competition I can compare one story with the one before it. Every comment is a sign that at least one person read my work and decided that it was worth commenting on.

The other thing that worries me, is with so many entries being entered into this competition, what are the odds that someone will read something I wrote at all. I have noticed that some of what happens here, is a sort of ‘you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’, arrangement, where if you like someone else’s work, they can see that, and there is a good chance that they will go to your profile and read your latest story, which to me is totally fair.

However, I have decided not to submit to the temptation of liking or commenting on something I didn’t read, with the goal of getting likes and comments back. It can be difficult – sometimes when you get a like on something you wrote, you go to the user’s profile, and try to read their story, only to find that it is written in a style that really doesn’t gel with you, or the subject matter is not your cup of tea.

I have also seen some amusing things when keeping this principle in mind. Like when I checked my activity and found 5 new likes on 5 of my stories, all given at the exact same time (a sure sign they didn’t actually read anything I wrote).

So maybe I do need to separate dreams from reality. Namely the dream of being ‘successful’ at writing. As long as anyone can say they read my work and enjoyed it, I should be happy. If I’m going to have a big break, it may come further down the track, but right now I should be satisfied with the little victories. And I should be asking myself every day, “Am I getting better?” If I write something, and I like it, I should celebrate that. I do actually have a favorite short story, that I am pretty happy with, and even though it got modest feedback, I am glad I wrote it.

Finally, why did I get into writing? Because I love reading. This writing competition is a chance to read 150-200 or so stories every week. I just wish I could commission what people write. I know the genres and subject matter that I like, and I don’t often see people writing it. So, when all is said and done – please try and write more stories in the style of Haruki Murakami or Mieko Kawakami. If you do, I can’t wait to read them!