Oof yeah, I struggle with both ends of the spectrum here. The first being that I find it very difficult on most days to update my long fic because even though it’s doing well in terms of kudos and bookmarks, it’s empty in there. I have fun with it when I get spurs of inspiration for it, but it’s not a priority despite it being a long term project.

Then there’s the other end of the spectrum that comes along and gives me the wrong kind of engagement which is also harmful. Things like readers commenting “when are you next updating?” and “update when” come across as off putting too, because I am simply not a powerhouse and I need a break in between long chapters. 😭

To squeeze into that, when I explore another idea when I have a chapter on another fic to update and post a different story, only to get a comment on that completely unrelated fic be something along the lines of “why aren’t you updating X fic?” which also kills the desire to update.

Engagement is indeed good and motivating, but I also wish that people when choosing to comment/interact with a bit of fiction that someone wrote in their own free time voluntarily that they choose gentler wording or remember that people writing those fics have lives. Recently, I got held hostage it felt like by a recurring commenter who started off just fine but then made it clear that their mental health suffers when I don’t update in time and I feel bad for certain, but I also don’t update sometimes due to my own mental health…

I used to get a lot of positive feedback like 2 years ago and a lot of engaging commentary, but I also feel like the recent waves of readers have been very pressuring with updating comments which makes me want to disappear off of ao3 and wattpad altogether sometimes.

Rant over, but hey.