When my author friends share a positive message from a reader—where the reader enjoyed the story enough to contact the author—a common response is something along the line of, “That’s what makes this all worth it!” Now if the reader tells the author the story changed his or her life for the better, magnify the sentiment a hundredfold.
While readers’ positive feedback definitely make it all worth it—it’s not necessarily why most of us write. If that were the case, it would mean writers are nothing more than attention seekers, whose primary goal is to get positive feedback.
The fact is, most writers would probably keep writing if no one ever read our words. Many of the writers I know tend to be introverts and probably have a stack of unread manuscripts, poems, essays, or short stories stashed away.
So, what does it really mean to a writer when a reader sends encouraging words? When a reader tells you your words mattered, or pleads with you for more? I can’t speak for all writers, but for me, it’s the added whipped cream.
And that added whipped cream encourages me not necessarily to write (something I am compelled to do anyway) but it encourages me to publish. It also fuels my creative energy to continue writing along a specific storyline, such as with the Haunting Danielle Series.
To my readers who have taken the time to send me kind words of encouragement, who have left positive reviews or comments on Facebook or my blog—thank you for being my muse, and for the helping of whipped cream atop the slice of chocolate cake that is my writing career.
