Finding an Audience

I’m attempting to write every day in March as part of the Slice of Life challenge hosted by Two Writing Teachers. Come on by!

Yes, I’m going to admit it – I perform better with an audience. Perhaps that’s why I loved being on stage in high school. Perhaps that’s why I love being a teacher. Perhaps that’s why this writing challenge has finally gotten me off my rear and made me write more.

Even before the Slice challenge started, I was branching out to find ways to make my voice be heard. As I mentioned before, I write comics reviews and a weekly Star Wars Thursday post for a friend’s website. I’ll be honest, though, I’m always afraid to ask him about page views. You see, my secret fear is that NO ONE is reading them. That I’m shouting into a canyon, but everyone has gone home for the day.

When Nerdy Book Club started up, I jumped on the chance to volunteer as a guest blogger. I put my name out there nervously, and then held my breath. One day, not too long after that, I got a DM. Would I like to write a Retro Review for the blog? Yes!!  (“Oh crap,” I thought, “I hope it ends up good enough.” Yeah, perfectionism. That’s the topic for another slice.)

Twitter gives me a place to find audiences, which is both wonderful and terrifying. The SciFiNow magazine occasionally calls for short submissions from their readers. I jumped on the chance to give my students a voice, a way for their opinions about The Hobbit to reach a larger venue. They are jazzed to see their words in print, and so am I! This week I submitted a short piece about my favorite Game of Thrones character – Arya Stark. I hope it gets selected to run!

Every time I get an email saying that a comment appeared on my blog, I do a little happy dance. I post my links to Twitter using Bit.ly so I can see how many click throughs I got. I’m not greedy – I treasure every single read. Having an audience, though, that’s what motivates me.

Should I be so intent on having that audience? Should I be so anxious to find out how many people actually read it, or what they think? Shouldn’t I be content with writing for myself alone? Perhaps, but I thrive on the applause.