What are your thoughts about some writers guilt tripping readers into giving them feedback? That if they don’t get enough feedback, they lose all motivation for writing and leave the writing community. And it’s ultimately the silent readers fault. Is it even right to put this pressure on the readers? That it’s their responsibility now to keep a stranger’s hobby afloat? Some writers don’t understand the pressure this entails to readers.

writernotwaiting:

pedeka:

icybluepenguin:

Let’s say you have a blog here.  You’re proud of your blog.  You’ve put a lot of work into it, every day.  More than an hour finding good content, tweaking your layout, crafting witty commentary. 

You never get any notes.

How does that make you feel? 

Do you feel like maybe this blog isn’t worth the effort? Maybe you should be spending your time doing something else. Sure, it’s just a hobby, but does it feel hollow and fruitless when no one cares?

Writing (and art of all kinds) takes a lot of work. It is HARD to find a story idea, work out the details, put the words together in a way that is pleasing to read and conveys the right emotions.  

Yes, for many of us, writing is a hobby.  It’s something we do because we love it.  But it is a PERFORMATIVE hobby.  It begs an audience.  Like blogging, it quickly becomes depressing and painful to work on when no one wants to interact. 

There are many perfomative hobbies that suffer without an audience. Every amateur on YouTube, blogging, cooking, acting- would you tell a community theater actor not to complain that no one came to their play? 

Now, I write.  And I knit.  I don’t knit for other people to see or comment on- I knit because it’s relaxing and fun and I get mittens at the end of it.  I write because I have a story *to share.*  I write and post these stories publicly because I want other people to experience them.  If I don’t know anyone is doing that, then what’s the point? Why spend hours and hours and hours finding the right way to convey emotions, plot, and pacing if no one is going to see it?  Might as well keep it in my head.  

Some people write like knitting, just for themselves.  Anyone who *posts* their work?  It’s by definition performative.  It needs an audience. That’s *why* we post it. 

Now look, if someone decides to stop whatever they’re doing- that’s THEIR decision and you are not, ultimately, responsible for it.  But you should understand why writers often quit from lack of feedback. It’s just not worth the effort for a perfomative hobby to be ignored.  It hurts. 

And, I dunno, at the end of the day, the readers are getting a lot of great content for free.  Really doesn’t seem that hard to me to send a (anonymous, even!) “I liked this!”

love you

that’s it. those are the feels exactly.