No More People Pleasing

You can’t please everyone.

That’s a basic truth if I ever heard one (says this die-hard people-pleaser).

The point is, not everything we write will strike a chord with all our readers. Some will hate it, some will remain untouched, but there will be a few with whom our writing resonates.

Some of the different reactions are due to genre and style and other elemental choices, but often, people relate to our words because of some past experience or inner need or common ground. They relate on some level.

For example, one of the readers of my first book was deeply touched by the fact that my female lead had lost her mother and missed her greatly. She could identify. I had not considered that part of my story to be that influential because I didn’t relate to it personally.

The takeaway is that if we keep writing, every once in a while our words will impact a life or two.

For years I have subscribed to The Writer, which I would recommend to any and all writers. This monthly magazine features a vast array of topics and tips for all levels of writing. That means many writers can relate to it on some level. I would venture to say that in my twenty-some years of subscribing, there are only a couple of issues where I’ve not been able to gather usable information or encouragement from one or more articles. Usually, I read through the entire publication, and often find pieces that offer more than I thought they would.

Again to the moral of this story: the more writing we send out to the world, the more people it will influence, entertain, inform, and encourage.

Just as some of us need to let go of the crazy idea of trying to please everyone, so we as writers need to realize that while we might not reach a crowd, we will reach a few, and our influence in their lives may go farther then we ever dared to imagine.