I’m not going to lie.
I had many, many illusions about blogging when I started The Crooked Pen.
I thought that, with enough vigor and talent I would be able to flock hundreds of thousands of people to this site. I had seen other blogs similar to this one and I thought I had them all beat. Surely, if this unoriginal tripe can get over one hundred likes, my posts, which are much more original, can receive the same amount of popularity as well….
That did not happen.
Ever.
That isn’t to say I haven’t made progress in both my writing style and my following. Nevertheless, it has never (and likely will never) garnered the sort of popularity I had hoped it would have.
This blog was created for two reasons: 1. So that I could go on lengthy diatribes about things the laymen doesn’t care about (fiction, writing, the literary merits of popular TV shows etc. And 2. So that I could create a platform to launch my writing career.
When it comes to the former, I have been more that successful. When it comes to the latter however….
I tried.
I didn’t exactly make a schedule, but I put it in my mind that I would attempt to make at least one blog post a week. When this didn’t attract as many people as I had hoped, I begun reading other people’s blogs and following them. I commented, liked, followed, engaged as much as I possibly could and still make time for my own personal writings. I did notice an increase…but, again, not as much as I hoped.
I decided to take a bit of a break.
I focused more on my actual writing and found that I was enjoying myself much more. When I wasn’t making a competition of it, constantly comparing myself to other writers, I enjoyed it…quite a lot, actually.
When everything was just for the love of it and it wasn’t about how many likes or comments I would receive, I found that I felt much freer and my body of work increased in quality.
I’ve since returned to the blogging world (albeit at a less frequent rate) and I’v decided that, rather than worrying about how many like or comments I have, I’m going to focus on writing what I want to write even if it’s not popular. I enjoy putting my words out there, even if only a tiny portion of people read them.
I appreciate you guys!
The Crooked Pen 
Reading this post made me sad, and I’m sorry to hear you didn’t get the popularity you wanted. Honestly, that’s how I feel about writing websites where I post my stories. I always see poorly written stories getting popular while I never get anything. Don’t be discourged, and keep writing like you want to.
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It’s cool. It’s a lesson I needed to learn. I need to put my ego on the shelf and just focus on getting better at writing instead of demanding validation from strangers lol. The strange thing is, I find that the less I devote to worrying about who is reading my work, the more people seem to flock to it.
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I know what you mean. I need to stop worrying about strangers’ opinions for validation, too. Our craft is more important, and it always will be =)
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I love this! It’s a lesson for myself
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Thanks. This is helpful for someone just starting out.
I started OutofBabel because I was told that every aspiring author has to have a web site in order to be “findable.”
Like you, I enjoy having a place to write and rant, but I hate the Internet. I hate worrying about traffic. And it’s already happened that I try to leave a nice-but-honest comment and end up offending someone. That really stresses me out.
You have 173 followers. I can only dream. 🙂
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You’ll get there! It took me way longer than most people to get to 173 and I imagine it will take quite a bit longer to get where I want to be in my writing career. It’s a learning curve but you’ll get more knowledgeable as you go along 🙂
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