hi! first of all congrats on publishing something! sorry it took me a bit to respond i was thinking of a reply all day and i wanted to do it properly. to answer, yes and no. i recognise and can relate to wanting that validation in the form of kudos, comments and hits and it's really nice to feel satisfied by those numbers but it is truly not the most important part of writing and posting something. i have never written or published any of my writing with the mindset of 'i want x amount of y or else this is failed' because that is such a demotivating approach to anything you're doing for the love of something. especially creative outlets. you CANNOT let yourself measure the success of your creativity based on outside numerical values, and especially in fandom spaces. it can be intimidating to see other creators in the same fandom "easily" achieve the kudos, comments or hits you want but it doesn't take away from yours, i promise. i've found that i really enjoy writing again because i've genuinely just told myself that what i'm writing is only supposed to satisfy myself, because why would i publish something i don't love? i believe that it's not only the content of what you're writing that will draw people to it, but it is also the care, time and passion that you can tell the author put into the work. and yes, i can sit and say all these things but i'll also be honest and say i do still pay attention to the numbers. it's natural when you share something and not necessarily a bad thing, but it's a process to let yourself see them as just numbers and not something that determines the value of your work. i hope some of what i've said can help you, and you're more than welcome to message me again! have a good day/night :)