The Red H Debate (yeah, i know, AGAIN)

[jasperrocks51]

Focus on your craft. Focus on writing the best story YOU can write.

Your audience will find you.

The rest of it is window dressing.

I resonate with this, and as a, soon, to be published author, I'm coming to terms with the fact that I have loved writing my story so much, that I would like the positive feedback loop as encouragement to keep writing. And, I've come to the conclusion, that I would rather have an audience of 10 passionate followers who want to go on a journey with me, than get my shorts twisted in a knot over ratings. Your comment about craft, however, hits me the most deeply, and as I've been editing/proofreading, I'm seeing the adolescence in my writing. My all time favorite writer in regards to craft is Tolkien. By the time I was on my 5th or 6th trip through the series, and knew the story so well, I found myself drilling down to his word choices, cadence, flow. And craftsmanship is the word that came to me as I marveled at the precision of every word, in every sentence. None of this was by accident, and I've been more like a toddler with a machine gun in the early stages. Thanks for the reminder to keep honing my craft, and writing the best story I can.