Instead of starting things off in the usual sense (greetings, how are you, let's ease you into the topic for the day), I'm simply going to start by showing you all this picture:
So, as I quite legitimately stopped breathing, I decided to head over to the Wattpad Picks page just to double check:
Yep. There I was in all my Buddies Rule glory.
Going into this new 'Featuring System' that Wattpad has, I had submitted an application to be featured (like the day that I found out they changed it) so I was more than shocked to see that I had finally made the two week cut.
At the time TBR was added to the list, it had around 45k reads (which I will admit it amazing in itself) but by the end of it's reign within Wattpad's elite, it had garnered more than 55k reads... In two weeks. I'm going to be honest with you guys and say it's nearing Someething Real's level of crazy ratings-jumping capabilities.
When I got notice of The Buddies Rule being added to the list, I had pretty much given up on writing. I know everyone is expecting updates and conclusions to all my ongoing works, but I had lost motivation around the middle part of March. Trying to play it cool, I uploaded that blog post promising to update everything in April, and at the time, I really meant it; but with how crazy my life has been as of late, writing just wasn't what it used to be. (BTW, I'm sitting on an air mattress now, and it's honestly comfier than my old bed ever was. If anyone would like the brand name, I would be happy to recommend).
Seeing this kind of brought me back to life in a sense. Ever since I got on Wattpad, it's been my dream to be up on that stupid list - even if it was for all of two weeks. Though it wasn't the bright shiny publishing worthy spotlight I had been dreaming about, it brought an actual fan-base to The Buddies Rule series (which, as most of your know, was practically nonexistent).
Because of this, and because of the effect it had on me, I wanted to try and give back a little more. Now being at 3.3k (2.98k but whose counting) followers, I want to use my semi-popularity for the best reasons possible. Though I'm already running featured author, there are a lot of undiscovered writers that slip through the cracks, and I don't want anyone who dreams of being up on that featured list to loose hope just because a book is lacking in reads. If you guys want to be writers, go out and do it! Just being on Wattpad is a feat in itself, and it took an instance like this one for me to remember why the hell I got on here in the first place.
With that being said, I have an exciting announcement! From this point forward, I will now be running my own featured list.
Every few months, I will be picking 10-20 books to feature on my website, Wattpad and twitter profiles. I know each of the books that I've picked at the moment have probably never been seen by the staff at Wattpad, and you know what? I want to change that.
The books I'm featuring at the moment are coming to you from our featured authors of 2018 (January through May), our very own featured author OF 2018 (HUGE shout-out to Misty Hayes!), as well as a few authors who just so happened to enter featured author for May.
This goes without saying but I am so excited for you all to check out these undiscovered books of art (ahaaaahaaa). I'd also like to thank you all for the constant support. I know I'm always going on about this, but it's times like the last few months where I start to question why I'm even doing this whole writing thing. Every. Single. Vote. And. Comment; got me through it.
Now, I will shut up, but before I do, I will wish you all the best! Today, it's been TWO WHOLE YEARS since The Buddies Rule chapters 1+2 were first posted!
If you'd like to be considered for the next featured list - keep in mind that all future featured authors do have their book of choice featured on the list, but other's come from my personal choosing. You can tag your book on Wattpad with #ShaysFeatures if you're feeling supper crazy.
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