HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE A “GOOD” WRITER?

I have been on Medium for quite some time now, and although I enjoy it, I am not sure if it is effective to gain “fans”. Writing, as an art, is so subjective, and IF you have readers, it is judged the same as a sculpture or a painting, or a piece of music. I don’t ask for a fan club, or followers, all I ask for is FEEDBACK. Some days, I simply write, to just get my thoughts out of my head, but somedays, I write to provoke thoughts or interests in the topics I ramble on about. It would be nice to get some feedback, just to see if ANYONE is out there and taking the time to read my thoughts or my content.

So, what are some ways to determine if you ARE, in fact, a good writer. Do you keep people interested so they come back for your next masterpiece? Do you determine if you are good based on the feedback you receive? Or do you just feel comfortable, in knowing that you made your point, whether others agree or not, and just keep plugging away? Is it based on grammar, punctuation and spelling? Or do you share your writings with friends and family and nervously wait, to see who, they believe, the articles about, and give you their opinions.

I am having a bit of a problem, sharing what I write for that very reason. Often, I will sit and write just to vent and to clear my mind of toxic thinking, or to “throw it out to the universe” just to see who reads it. So far, in my time on Medium, I have only gained CLAPS from sharing on Facebook, and to me, that seems a bit sad. I don’t want to be THAT GIRL and throw out my personal thoughts and opinions to my Facebook people, hoping that they see the little “clap” icon and throw me some applause. I was hoping to depend on fellow Medium writers for that, as we are all on the same ship, sailing through our days, looking for the same results.

So, my next question would be, how do YOU reach out on Medium, besides just selecting your audience? The top of my page, says “ALL OF MEDIUM”, which must be quite a lot of people. I also select the appropriate groups before I submit. Am I doing this whole thing wrong? Or am I just not writing what people want to read….

Recently I began writing a book for a friend of a friend. I had never met him prior to our first “Book meeting”, and he gave me a compelling story to write about his very bizarre family. I had been working on my own book, prior to him employing me for his, and I was so nervous to send him my first 3 chapters. I sent them and sat anxiously, checking emails over and over, just waiting for his opinion. He LOVED it! He even sent it out to a few friends and a family member to read, and they are all anxious for me to finish it so they can see how it ends. Does THIS make me a good writer? In this case, I would have to think, I must be. At least in that context, I must have written well enough for someone to enjoy my skill.

One of the words someone once said, is that I am a “wordy” writer. I still have not decided if that’s a positive or negative statement. When you wirte a novel, it needs to be wordy, or descriptors and storylines aren’t strong enough. You also need to character build. If that means “wordy” I suppose it can be seen as positive. If the opinion is that I ramble on without making a point…then I guess that would be a negative.

I am HOPING to gain some feedback on this, from any of you, who take the time to read this blog. We all want to know if we are actually “good” at something, especially when we are passionate. I am going to go read some of your articles, and CLAP away, because we are all a team, and we all deserve to know when we are doing something great, or even “good”.