Happy Readers = Warm Fuzzy Feelings

Writers don’t necessarily like to write, but we have to write. We might talk around it and deny it is taking over our lives, but you’ll see the signs – the cocktail napkins with illegible scrawls, the diary that’s NOT a diary, we SWEAR, but is a JOURNAL, the bits of words in margins of school notes to go along with our doodlings, and others. If you’re aware, you’ll see the signs. And latent writers are like other addicts, we try to hide it most of the time, with the occasional outburst of truth. Sometimes people tell us it’s neat and other times our attempts are scoffed at. Depends on our friends and family. But it feels good when what we’ve written seems to touch someone. Gives us a little high.

 

Once writers get past the point of scrawling just anywhere and hiding the notes whenever anyone walks into the room, they begin pulling it all together into cohesive poems or stories or articles. We start showing what we’ve written to people – friends, relatives, teachers, other writers. We get slapped down by some, praised by others and sometimes we even get constructive criticism. This is a crucial point, where the young writer has to learn to that they won’t write a perfect draft first time out and that the bulk of their work will be done in the revision process. This is where they decide whether or not they want to work at writing, listen to constructive criticism and wade through non-constructive criticism, or is it not worth it for them. And then, there it is again, when someone seems to connect with our writing, get what we’re writing or really enjoy our story. We get that warm flush that starts in our gut and moves throughout our bodies and ends in a giddy smile, kind of like that first sip of a cocktail after a long day. And that might be what tips us over into the serious writer stage.

But through some of this process, the writer may also learn to distrust the comments of their close friends or family, somewhat. After all, they’re friends and family. Either they will gloss over glaring errors and everything is fantastic, or they will see every last error and see through the story to the time when you peed in front of everyone in second grade music class. So, we learn to start taking the comments of other writers and editors more seriously, but that is rarely the all out praise we got before. It takes longer and more work to get that praise, and when we get that first published story or poem or article or even full-sized book, we can’t seem to wipe the grin off our faces. Or if we win some type of award for our writing. It feels SOOOOO GOOOOOD! We may or may not get paid that first time, or maybe the award is not the Pulitzer, but what we think more than anything is, like Sally Field at the 1985 Academy Awards, “YOU LIKE ME! YOU REALLY LIKE ME!” and at that point we are hooked.

Recently, I’ve realized how much it means to me when my friends’ parents, kids or significant others tell me they like a story or poem I’ve written. It still means a lot when my friends and family say it, or editors and fellow writers, but when people I don’t know make a point of passing onto me how much they enjoyed something I wrote, I feel that warm fuzzy feeling for days – weeks and months even. It’s a serious high I can float on. I’ll think about sending them a thank you card or a free copy of something, just as a thank you and because it feels so good that someone outside of us gets what we wrote.

Sometimes I actually do send something.

And yes, it feels good when people actually buy our work, too. But that is a different kind of exchange. Money not only helps us pay our bills, but it also shows acknowledgement that we worked at our creation and have a right to compensation. But that is a different discussion for another time.
Nothing beats a fan letter.

It isn’t the only reason we write; remember we started writing before we got those warm fuzzy feelings from readers, but it does encourage us. If you liked their story enough to want more, then it’s the best way to get them to write more. So, next time you read something you really enjoy, think about looking up that author, whoever they maybe, and passing along an email, a post on their blog, or a tweet, letting them know how much you enjoyed their work.

And if you’re the writer who received the fan letter, remember to say “Thank You.” It’s the least you can do for the high you get from the warm fuzzy feelings.