**taps mic**

Is this thing on??

It's a beautiful day, isn't it? A beautiful day to be up front honest and say the complete truth your best friend would probably never have the nerves to tell you.

Whoever told you that you're a prolific writer with great a-many wonderful unfinished first drafts to show for it only said that to calm your nerves. You know it, I kid thee not.

Over recent years, I've come to painfully understand that the hardest part of the truth is acceptance. That still doesn't mean the truth won't be told and as a matter of fact, I'm here to shove this bitter pill down your throat.

You're not a good writer, never were, probably never would be and I really, reeeally do think you should quit this whole writing of a thing already. I mean, look at the facts for yourself, you were never cut out for this, you're not the chosen one blessed with a mighty pen (oops, sword) or coffee mug and the gods of Wattpad do not even favor you! I know, it's been a hard decision to make and that's why I'm here to help you become decisive; QUIT ALREADY!

It should only take a minute to clear your cluttered work space, go on, I'll wait here. Ooooor, on second thoughts, it would be rude to tell you to up and leave just like that, right? I wouldn't want to be the boyfriend you describe as "the idiot broke up with me over the phone!!!!!" So here, have a seat, here's ice-cream for starters and the heartbreaking truth to follow as the main dish.

In my very honest opinion (which doesn't count either way)m I think you should quit writing because you've been getting it wrong this whole while;

-BUT IT'S THE READER, STUPID

While I might not mean it in the same context as Hugh Howey, the phrase still holds true.

Every day, you come across Talk of the Town books whether while searching for something to read or Wattpad recommendations. Y'know, those books with X million reads on 21 Chapters as compared to yours; 2K reads on 36 Chapters !!!!!!

What we often overlook, however, are those readers who have morphed from 'random comment on your book to goofy friends to gang members'. Truly, at the end, it's those readers that actually count, not the reads.

When I first got on Wattpad, there were tons of 1 Direction fanfics and Horror seemed to be the thing, many many maaaany of which had tons of reads. Today, I don't see most of those books or authors around. While the reads are still there, the readers moved ship.

Of course, those steady rising figures on the reads make our hearts swell with joy (so go out there and make a writer happy), don't miss out on what's more important, readers.

For what shall it profit a writer to gain the whole reads and lose interest in their book afterwards. Or what shall a writer give in exchange for his loyal readers?

Can I get an Amen?!

So your Wattpad bio states Goals: Gazillion-bullion reads on XYZ book!

Ever stopped to figure what happens next? A gazillion-bullion reads, then what? Publish on Amazon? Ha! Oh wait, no plans really? Ha Ha!! So what's with all the stressing out?

Congratulations to every writer who've grown from writer to published author through the help of Wattpad readers. The bitter truth however is that at the end of the day, being a 'writer' ends here for most of us, not many ever make it through to the publishing sphere which is really where all hell breaks loose, every published writer from Wattpad can testify that, it's two very different environments and it's a mad mad world out there.

Really, it's no use chasing and stressing over all those reads when you've no plans, but if you do have plans, great! Brace yourself to learn, relearn, unlearn and uhhhhh, I forgot what comes next but you get my point anyway.

Garret Calcaterra once said something in the lines of "writing feeds my family, fiction is just on the back burner."

It doesn't have to be fiction. Good enough, Wattpad tries to be inclusive of whatever style of writing you have and the last Wattys must've had a comic book of sorts emerge a winner in a category, right?(can't really place it, I'm getting rusty up there!). I've seen a number of Wattpad folks move on to make a living of sorts, earn extra bucks off their writing skills. While some get a publishing deal, others get serious writing gigs and others, editors at local or school magazines and stuff.

Some of us get neither of the above mentioned, but learn to groom our writing enough to answer exam questions and get a pass grade. No joke now, if you've ever been in an exam hall with a question like "Mitochondria is the power house of the cell. Elucidate." You're blank! But hey you fill your answer booklet with an Act 1, Act 2 and Act 3 scenery of what happens with the mitochondria.

Fun fact- What's the fastest way to determine the sex of a chromosome? Pull down its genes.

Just quit writing already, you know your fiction skills aren't great. But hey, storytelling and writing go beyond just fiction, you have a catchy hilarious 'blog post-esque' style of writing, ever considered running a blog here on Wattpad?(It's free hosting too). No? It just has to be fiction, eh? Meh!

***

Hopefully, I've been able to convince you enough to quit writing already. But let's imagine you're the annoying yet adorable kind of girlfriend who sends goofy throwback pictures for a 'good morning' text, and I'm the boyfriend so terrible at convincing you to stay an extra hour, and you're still bent on writing, let's see how I can help without needing animals for sacrifice to the gods (I'm African, we have quite a narrative of our own, XD)... In the Wattpad Block Party-Summer Edition 3, I shared a few hacks on how emerging writers could help put themselves out there, you don' have to take my word for it, but @SheHopes and @MCRomances think it was brilliant so take their words and definitely check that post out (link in the in-line comment)

Here are a few quotes which have helped keep me going through the times;