Motivation

[Stanfield2025]

I care about my stories too much. I've invested a lot of time and attention to them and have experienced the ups and downs/highs and lows of success here and at another site. It's the lows that make me question my ability to write a story. Which is where I'm at right now.

I feel that. Success, as said above, means different things to different people. Some people see it as how much they enjoyed the process. Others see it as whether the readers praised it. Others focus on the actual numbers. And there are other metrics.

The pressure put on you by the success of a given story is an understandable one. It's the kind of thing I've heard of in world renowned athletes, too. No matter how successful someone is at writing (and I'm only saying this based on what I've heard from respected authors), there will always be self-doubt and its associated emotions. Though I think there'd be a lot less of that if it were easier for writers to get critique partners.