Member-only story
Prose and Poetry
Where Have All the Readers Gone
A puzzling question
Where have all the readers gone?
Long time passing
Where have all the clappers gone?
Long time ago
Where have all the commenters gone?
They're dropping off one by one
Oh, when will I ever learn?
Oh, when will I ever learn?
This has been the tune and lyrics intruding my brain for months.
It’s been a crazy, busy summer, and my writing has waned. I’ve not done anything spectacular, yet making time to write has been challenging.
Grandkids were home from school, so we’ve often been on grandparent duty. We live in a Southern state so we’ve had several friends visit for the weekend as they journey from the Midwest or Upnorth to Florida. Our neighbors are outside more, walking dogs, doing yard work, or having happy hour in driveways, a holdover from the pandemic days. We find ourselves being more social in the summer.
However, I miss writing. When will I ever learn to listen to the advice I know to be true? Be consistent is the advice heard most often, develop a routine, stop wasting time thinking about writing, and just write! These are all good tips, but when will I ever learn to put them into practice?
With my grandkids back in school, visitors no longer stopping in for weekend visits, I have time to regroup and reflect on my writing endeavors.
I needed to figure out if I was really just too busy to write or was it something else. Am I lazy? Have I lost interest? Am I running out of ideas? No to all of the above. After spending time wondering where have all my readers, clappers, and commenters gone, I finally found the answer. I realized that readers will drop off one by one if I no longer write anything for them to read. Out of sight, out of mind, as they say! Silly me to think that my older stories would sustain any interest in my writing.
I don’t have a huge following, but I do have some regulars that I can always count on. That's why I love Medium. I used to scoff when people talked about their online friends, but now I get it. I…
