Wattpad - Peril or Joy?

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I began my writing on Wattpad. 

I would imagine that statement conjures up an image of a young teen tapping away on her phone’s keyboard. 

Nothing could be further from the truth. 

I was not born a writer. However, I was born with a huge imagination. Like many children, I did have an imaginary friend. And I regularly insisted my mom make meals and hold doors open for her.

I don’t remember any of that. But it’s what my mother told me.

Somewhere between young childhood and adulthood, I got the notion that an imagination was a waste of time. That didn’t stop me from having one, of course. But from then on, when ideas started churning, I batted them away.

I still had a creative side and found a love of drawing, painting, basket weaving, photography, and even a few poems to satisfy it. I’m not sure why I thought these things had more merit. It was weird and something I never pondered until I became a writer.

So what does all this have to do with Wattpad?

Well, after my children were grown, my mind had more time to be creative. Suddenly, I wasn’t just making up alternative endings to disappointing movies and TV shows, but now entire scenes of new material rolled through my brain on a regular basis.

One particular story started every time I drove. (It later became known as Sanctuary’s Aggression.) At the time though, I actually Googled how to stop this from happening. The website said to write your daydreams down.

Oh wow, really?

Around the same time, two of my daughter’s friends mentioned Wattpad. They had uploaded stories to their Wattpad author site and also enjoyed reading other authors’ stories.

So I looked it up—and read my friend’s stories and more.

Clearly, Wattpad contains a large cross-section of authors—from those just starting out to those who’ve been around for a while. Many published authors even have a story or two available on Wattpad. 

As someone who loved reading, Wattpad was pure joy! If I didn’t like a story, I could move on easy enough. If I did like it, I’d just keep scrolling all night. 

Sure, maybe the grammar was off occasionally or there were typos here and there, but the stories were good—sometimes even great. And well, my own grammar isn’t all that great either, so who was I to cast stones?

I’m sure there are as many opinions about Wattpad as there are stories, but for me, Wattpad was eye-opening. To think that people were publishing their own stories willy-nilly! I hadn’t known such a thing was possible.

Indie publishing wasn’t something I knew much—if anything—about. But now, the thoughts were churning. 

Could I publish on Wattpad?

Sure, I could type words but was I able to sit and calmly type out the scenes in my head, arranging them into some kind of story that made enough sense that people—real people—would want to read them?

The answer was no. At least, not at first. 

Even opening the account had been hard because I’d known where I wanted it to lead. Now I sat in front of my laptop with my heart banging against my ribs, my fingers hovering over the keyboard too numb to move.

I was like a little baby bunny poking its nose out of its burrow for the first time, ready to race back inside at the first sign of danger.

Much like most other newbie writers, I’m sure. Lol.

Without telling a soul, I published that first chapter on Wattpad and thought, “If ten people read this and don’t say something mean, I’ll be thrilled.”

Ten people read it and said nice things.

Wattpad joy!

Then one hundred people.

Then one thousand people.

Then five thousand people.

Joy! Joy! Joy!

That was way more interest in my little story than I’d ever dreamed possible. I was over the moon.

I have to say, for me, Wattpad held a lot of joy—but it does have a few perils too. I’ll go into those in the next newsletter.

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Fellow Author Recommendation

Sam J. Fires is a respected name in Post-apocalyptic/Dystopian fiction with over 20 books completed.

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Scott’s an ordinary nine-to-five guy with an regular family, trying to scrape a living. But his life’s about to get blown apart.

Desperate times call for desperate measures as Scott is compelled to accept a job which is offering the sort of money he’s never seen before in his life. But at what cost? The stakes are high and if you’re not careful, this can see you thrown in jail.

Scott’s a victim. It’s not his fault of course. He’s brimming with fury and needs to take revenge. He’s going to kill the guy who sent him to his jail sentence. Little does Scott know he’s about to meet his Nemesis.

And suddenly the world is thrown into a spin as the urban landscape is transformed and millions of people wiped out. But Scott’s an opportunist and he sees an opportunity. Will this see him killed or will he escape with his life?

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Book Deals

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October 1 - 31, 2021

Many good authors in this group. And they are all in Kindle Unlimited.
Many authors also price their first in series on the low side!

September 28 - November 1, 2021

Tons of Sci-fi and Fantasy books to choose from in this one. Many start at 99c!