This week’s post is Chapter 15, Scene 5 (1.15.6).
Exhaustion is hard to write through. Enough naps, care, kindness to self – it passes. Temporarily, but it passes. Liebjabberings must be considered still under construction. Le sigh. The good news is, the more I fail, the more I learn, and the number of possible failures is finite, right?
I keep telling myself I would be writing so well by now, if only I were healthy and mobile – but then I wouldn’t be writing THIS story, and I kind of like it. Forewarning: this scene had parts that were very hard to write.
Some of the exhaustion is due to diving into Wattpad – a very different place to serialize, and a new set of formatting oddities (sorry, WordPress) to navigate and wrestle into submission (though I’m not sure either Wattpad or I would call it a win).
I’m there as @ABEhrhardt, if anyone here Wattpads. Different readers and commenters – and they’ve made me feel welcome.
And here is this week’s quote (thanks, Quozio.com): 
I tried a couple of other quote generators, failed, went back to Quozio. There’s only so much learning space in my head.
Additional beta readers welcome – contact me if you’d like to participate (and get to read things earlier). Pride’s Children is a mainstream contemporary novel, suitable for mature adolescents and adults, set in the world of those who entertain the rest of us. It asks questions such as who is allowed to want? And what matters in the long run? And how will fame and fortune break you? And who is foe and who is friend?
Typo reports, etc., extremely welcome! Thanks!
PRIDE’S CHILDREN Table of Contents
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PRIDE’S CHILDREN, Chapter 15, Scene 6 [Kary]
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Copyright by Alicia Butcher Ehrhardt 2013-2014.
liebjabberings 
Congratulations on your new arena! The last thing I need is another site with more good stuff to read. 😆 Still behind, but also still reading!
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It’ll all still be there when you have time – don’t worry. Always good to see you’ve caught up a bit.
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Congrats on getting onto Wattpad. I’ve had that on my own to-do list for what feels like forever. I *did* manage to set up an account there last spring, but have progressed no further. I dread wrestling with those very formatting issues you mention. I remember so well tearing my hair out when I first tackled KDP and getting a website up and all the other innumerable starting-out things. I *did* it. I survived. But I’m super reluctant to dive back onto the learning curve. You have my admiration!
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Let me know when you’re ready – I can give you a couple of tips on the formatting – turns out it’s not so hard once you figure out a few quirks.
Now, just as here, I paste it in from Word, do a few tweaks that are site specific (on Wattpad, AFTER you save and publish, when you go back to look at it, everything has double spaces between paragraphs – so you do a quick pass to delete the extra return, and things look much better). Now I Save and Publish, and immediately go back, remove the extra returns, and Save again.
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Thank you!
I’m one of those people who likes to be well prepared before I start, so if you are willing to share your tips now, I’d love to have them. Either here or emailing me, whichever you prefer.
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Lemme see:
1. You can upload a txt file – which seems the easier options – but a .txt file has no formatting in it, which means that if you ever use an italic, bold, or underline, you have to go in after the file has been published, and re-format everything. I put the things into italics very carefully (have blogged on the system I use), and I’m not about to correct a file manually. The alternative – paste from Word, and remove the extra spacing manually (some people don’t bother doing that much, so it’s optional).
2. It’s okay to save and publish; people don’t get to your work right away, and your work doesn’t get sent to anyone in a file, so you do have time to make things look the way you want them to with a bit of formatting. Then just hit Save again (or you lose your changes). I was worried about putting up imperfect work – I don’t worry any more. The pace is more relaxed.
3. Do NOT coalesce all your scenes into a single long chapter file. I did that so readers would have to click fewer times; then some one mentioned my files were very long to read on her mobile – and the light bulb went on. Apparently 80% of Wattpad readers read on mobile devices – leave your chunks smaller for their convenience.
4. You gain followers the normal way: go read people who write in your genres, follow them, comment on their work – and you will start to get people interested in you as a person and as a writer. There are discussion threads for all areas – comment on those. You give a vote to the pieces of works you read that you like (another reason for leaving you work in more parts – more votes, more views per chapter).
5. If you feel inclined, and can say things about a writer’s work that might be helpful, do it in a PM – and be very gentle. some people like it, others really don’t, and though it seems putting work in public invites feedback, what it is really there for is to invite people to READ.
6. I am told only about 10% of Wattpadders are writers – which boggled my mind. I’m so used to writer’s blogs, that I assume those who comment are writers, but this isn’t so. And, in my book, readers are always right, even when we disagree (except for trolls looking for a fight, obviously). People have been very, very nice.
7. The interface for each person is deceptively simple – but it works across many, many devices. Spend a few minutes poking about – there are only so many buttons to push and click. If you have a specific question, there are moderators and experts – I found them very accessible. Just identify yourself as a newbie, and everyone is willing to help.
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Thank you!
I’m going to copy and paste your tips into a file on my computer, so that I have them right there when I actually do this thing. It doesn’t *sound* so bad. Not sure why I’m freaked out by it, but I am. Still. :: small smile ::
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You’re welcome. I had the same feeling, and now I have a different one: everything you do takes a chunk out of your life, and to do things well means you have to interact – which takes even more time.
But if you don’t try things, you don’t find out if, maybe, the new things was a better thing for YOU. I tried twitter – it is so NOT me. I’m still deciding about Wattpad, but there is a new groups of possibly interested readers I won’t see any other way there.
Let me know if you try it out, and what you find out.
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Alicia, the important thing is you’re still going and long may you continue.
Strength and health to you
john
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There aren’t really any other options, John, unless we give up – and I’m not ready to do that.
Besides, I’m having too much fun.
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