Comments on: Not Everything Needs to Be Published.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:25:01 +0000

In reply to Kristin. Kristin, thank you! Share your writer's group link here or over on my FB page (link on site). xx

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:24:23 +0000

In reply to Greg.

I’m so behind in my responses, so my apologies.

Don’t give up! Just take some “me” time, Greg. I’ve been writing much less prolifically lately, in the publishing sense, but the material is just voluminous because of taking some time to breathe in life. Keep me posted on your journey. Warmly, Jennifer

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 01 Jun 2015 14:23:15 +0000

In reply to Shadi. I recently wrote another post on this topic. I think it should really be out there, directly being discussed by both writers and readers. Thanks for chiming in.

By: Why Writers Shouldn’t Write Every Story. - Jennifer S. White

Why Writers Shouldn’t Write Every Story. - Jennifer S. White — Sun, 17 May 2015 12:30:39 +0000

[…] Point: my blogging should support my goal as a writer, and I should have a targeted audience with an intended purpose for my writing—anything outside of this can and should be privately journaled and not published. (Here, read this.) […]

By: Shadi

Shadi — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 08:21:30 +0000

Amazing to read this! Only recently I’d noticed what a fool I’ve been, forwarding rubbish material to other friends to read. Bunch of mambo jambo forwarded to myself by some well meaning friends, beause those particular pieces had some fancy pretty words in them!?! So dear Jennifer not only some pieces should never be published their unfortunate readers also should not forward them and let them stay buried!

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:01:45 +0000

Thank you for this beautiful article, Jennifer. I love this. It comes at a time I’m contemplating giving up writing altogether for the lack of readers. If nothing else, its humbled me from imagining I’m some sort of great scribe pumping out gems, to the reality that I’m not half as good as I thought I was in my own mind. If not for the great big silence in response to my articles, i wouldn’t know that. What you say about the culture of “clicks & likes” is true, but there is some validity to those forms of acknowledgement. As you point out, personal writings are not meant to be published. Journal entries should be private. Your words have great power, and is the reason I publish: “we publish because an idea would benefit the world at large, whether in simple art form because of poetic beauty, or because it’s full of helpful life experiences that could do wonders if sent out as little love notes all over the world.” Indeed, it is a gift to the world. And when the world demonstrates that its not moved by that, as much as it hurts, it may be a fair indicator that a writer should consider a different form of delivering the gift. The idea is to touch the world. I have seen how the drive for clicks has distorted my titles and even some of my content. I see who’s getting the clicks, and most often its not the best word-smiths or story tellers. That is a sad fact of the way social media has morphed our craft. It doesn’t mean anyone needs to stop writing. As you say, we write because we “must”. But it might very well mean its time to stop publishing.

By: Kristin

Kristin — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 17:48:02 +0000

I just like you more and more. I shared this with my writer’s group because likes, clicks, shares- they’re addictive, especially for new writers that are finding their words touch people. But I truly believe that when we start to serve the Click God, our writing soul suffers. Click bait-y titles, over sexualized content, stuff that is obviously out there just for traffic- it’s info-tainment. Publish to serve; not serve to publish.