This is such an encouraging post. I just graduated from college, and for my Senior Thesis I wrote a novel. And, uh, I failed. I mean, I wrote it, but I was just too embarrassed by it to turn it in. It was meant to be literary sci-fi with serious implications about marginalized people in society, but the only chapters that came easy were the ones from the POV of the "funny sidekick" character. And it was just so disjointed.

I too missed the "easy" writing of high school (I got addicted to deviantART moreso than A03, but it's sort of the same thing re: audience feedback). I LOVED writing funny, sexy-strange stories that my friends at school would comment on, and I got into writing One Acts and monologues because the instant gratification of seeing an audience react to my work and laugh at my jokes was unbeatable.

But in college I ended up shying away from stand-up (what I secretly wanted to do) and only did a few open-mics that went...okay...because stand-up was the ultimate lowbrow, especially for a woman. On the one hand, you've got people saying, "You're smarter than this / you're better than this," from my professorial crowd, and from the audience at open mics it's all, "Well, you know, women just aren't that funny..." and I can't prove them wrong because, well? I'm just not that good yet.

But I suspect, I think I COULD be good at it because of the reaction my funny writing got in high school, and online. Maybe?

I dunno. College is over and I need work. So! So. We'll see how it goes. At any rate, I love this post and I'm so glad writing really became your job. That's fantastic. I really hope your novel gets published! I'd love to read it.

YES

In high school (a time wherein I had plenty of undiagnosed psychological issues) I had a crush on this one girl with super dark eyes, tough build, way taller than me. Throughout the semester my crush / anxiety built and I tried to avoid eye contact with her, until one day she sat next to me in set design class and I bolted into the makeup room and started crying uncontrollably. She poked her head in, like, "are you okay?" and the only thing I could manage to say was, "How are you here? How are you so beautiful????"

I think I freaked her out. The teacher ended up letting me go home early.

So. Ah. I know the feeling?

Usually people call her MALLORY (all caps only because she has once again hit us *in the feels*)

Yes, but visible and engaging =/= conventionally attractive.

When I think about the writers whom I am fans of who are social-media-masters and very convention savvy, the first person who comes to mind is Spike Trotman. She's black, queer, and has piercings; she's also VERY funny, engages with her fans of social media, asks questions, let me interview her for a magazine I wrote for in *college*, and creates free how-to-comics tutorials available for everyone.

Any convention that attracts an indie or geeky crowd, she's there.

Anyway, in my mind I contrast that with, say, Dave McKean, who is SO awkward and socially strange and shy that he makes convention appearances super weird, and his social media / tumblr is not super audience-oriented? So, I mean, I stopped following him on social media platforms, even though he's a reasonably attractive swm.

It doesn't effect him personally all that much, since he built up his audience and fanbase pre-internet, but is publishers think they know who'll connect with audiences nowadays based on appearance, they're going to run into some issues.

Great advice! Two things to add:

1. I had an excellent experience in Cat Rambo's writing workshops. I'm afraid I don't know how to do links, but she does online writing workshops through video chat on specific topics related to either novel-writing or short-story writing. For example, "Character Building for Genre Writers" and "Description and Delivering Information." Her own writing is excellent (she's the former editor of Fantasy & Science Fiction ) and she balances encouragement with sharp, specific critique.

2. I have a blog on tumblr which is 90% fandom stuff and 10% political / activism stuff. I don't get paid for it, but I definitely feel the ego boost when people like or reblog something Ive written, or better yet, respond and start a conversation. Even though people say social media wastes time, you might consider it because it might jump-start your confidence.

I've been reading Mari Ness's "Disney Read-Watch" series over on Tor.com and she just SKIPPED THE DISNEY ROBIN HOOD MOVIE. Just skipped it! She said it wasn't a great movie and they re-used a lot of the animation from 'The Jungle Book,' so let's just skip to 'Winnie the Pooh' because it's more significant.

And I was like...insignificant? How is it insignificant? I'm pretty sure it's actually the MOST significant to my preteen development.

But then I realized Mari Ness is actually quite a bit older than me, so I suppose that makes sense.

Robotneedslove, as a former teen writer who's now a 23-year-old writer (and far from a pro) I encourage you to try again! Sometimes just being able to write something and share it with one person is all you need to jump-start that creative energy again. Also, you never have to show your work to your parents if you don't want to :)

I feel like this is a safe place to admit that ever since I got a smartphone and downloaded the Audible app, the Overdrive app, and Podbay, almost 90% of the books and short stories I "read" I actually listen to. Catch up on the latest S/F stories while I make my morning coffee and breakfast. Listen to an audiobook in the car, during downtime at work, in the evening while I'm doing laundry and dishes or sketching or cuddling with the cat.

Sometimes my work involves creating indexes and glossaries, and while that might require my focus if I actually have to write entries, if i'm simply creating citations or copy-pasting things from one box in a grid to another, I can even begin to do that by rote enough that I can listen to an audiobook at work.

It's wonderful. I don't care if it's not "real" reading or if my mind often drifts and I have to rewind a bit, I like it.

Also, my fave short story podcasts are Clarkesworld magazine podcast and PRI Selected Shorts; what are yours?

It's weird to think of, as a Christian, because a tenet of Christianity "everybody should be a Christian because it's in line with God's will" and "the gospel is true." For some this leads to straightforward evangelism, and for some it doesn't, but, regardless, that tenet tends to be there.

So growing up I always sorta figured all religions were like that. Every religious group would want more people to join their group and share their beliefs, because their beliefs were the truest and most morally right, in their eyes. So it was a very foreign idea that perhaps other religious groups would be unhappy with the notion that someone outside their culture might convert to their religion.

Honestly, it's still a big cultural difference for me to understand, even today, even though I *get* it more now.