I’m as surprised as you are.

I stumbled upon a piece about how influencers weren’t reading people’s stories, so the collective “we” should stop reading theirs.

It wasn’t the actual article that got my attention. It was a comment posted by a reader where they basically told someone with a rather large following on Medium to f*ck off. I say large following, the targeted person probably has one of the largest followings.

News flash, that person’s not going to read or see your comment, either.

They’ll never know that they should f*ck off.

The premise of the comment seemed to imply that writers with large followings only want you to read their material, but don’t have time for us little people.

Hmm, okay. You mean those same writers who freely share their wealth of knowledge and have potentially inspired thousands of readers to start writing?

I’m here to burst your bubble.

If you’re doing anything in your life with the goal of the person or people that influenced you to start doing it in the first place actually acknowledging your work in any way, stop it. Now.

First, Stephen, Steve, or whatever his friends actually call him, doesn’t give a sh*t about me. Sure, I’m a nice guy. I’m sure he would very much enjoy visiting with me and having coffee and a blueberry muffin at the small cafe in his home state that he occasionally visits based on the local rumor mill.

Truth is, there’s actually a better chance of that happening than him reading anything that I will ever write. Even if I wrote some amazing horror novel, he won’t care or call me to share his thoughts. Why?

Dozens of reasons.

For one, people like Steve are too busy doing whatever they’re doing and paying attention to events, music, movies, and literature that they care about and enjoy. Plus, I’m too small of a fish in the literary sea.

I guess I could always leave a copy outside the gates of his Bangor, Maine house. The chances that he’ll do anything more than run over it with whatever cool car he’s currently driving are nil.

I’ve actually been almost up to the gates. It was years ago, but, I was in town and figured I’d stop by. I’d like to think that he didn’t answer because he was probably already out and about that day and we just missed each other.

The truth is, he didn’t give as sh*t about me then, either.

Admittedly, I don’t write horror stories. Full disclosure, I like a lot of Steve’s books, but in movie form. I’ve never read a single one.

However, he’s apparently pretty famous if even I know his name.

Yeah, that’s how you sound, too, if you think that anyone who’s that big respectively on any online format or in the world is paying attention to you or what you create.

Nope, I’m not comparing someone with “100 million” Medium followers to Stephen King. I’m simply referencing those with the largest reach on a given platform.

I’ll extend it a bit further.

Let’s say that you picked up the guitar because one of the many virtuosos out there sparked your interest. Maybe you painted your first sunflower, either because you stumbled on a Bob Ross rerun, or you were enlightened by an original Picasso that was stolen on some TV show. Good for you! But, stop right there and slow your Prussian blue roll.

If you believe that you’re entitled to the reciprocity of engagement of your work by someone more well-known than you in the same field as your undertaking, best of luck. You’re going to find out that it’s still just as cruel of a world out there as it always was.

You started the thing because you were inspired, not for the accolades of anyone else. Keep that in check, be consistent and consistently improve. Do that, and your audience will take notice. Maybe not that famed person that initially inspired you, but plenty of other people that you don’t currently give a sh*t about either.

Probably not gonna include Bob Ross or Picasso at this point, though.

Write the book, sing the song, paint the picture.

And if you see Stephen around, tell him that he still owes me for the coffee and muffin that he never showed up for.