I have for the most part been on hiatus, but have been reading these comments and I have to say we are all molded by our life experiences and many are painful, but we can learn from them.
Twenty years ago I moved back home to care for my mother who was diagnosed with Lung Cancer. My father had died only three years before. Hearing this news was devastating to me and the echos of those days are still with me.
The doctor gave her six months and said she needed to start chemotherapy immediately. She told him that estimate would be beaten, my sister was getting married in a few months and she was not missing the party. Still, Mom elected not to delay the therapy. Despite the pain and bouts of nausea she planned my sister's wedding (a rather large affair, much bigger than mine) and continued working. Two weeks before the wedding she stopped taking Chemo so she could enjoy being with family and friends. The last photo of us together was taken at that wedding and must of the attendants were surprised that Mom was ill.
During the worst of it all she kept her humor, enjoyed the young children at the Day Care Center where she volunteered and gave encouragement to older patients at the Doctor's office where she worked.
When she cried, it was in the privacy of her home.
Never, would she allow the disease which was destroying her body day by day to destroy her spirit. She went to her 40th Class Reunion which was to be her last. But she danced and laughed with old friends as if she would be there for the 50th. She lived for eighteen months after the conversation with her doctor.
A few years ago one of those youngsters she helped to finish business school told my sister if it had not been for her he would not have finished school and might have ended up on the streets. That is a far better legacy than some can point to.
If I can live my life with the same grace as my mother experienced her last days that would make her smile.
It is in my parents' and younger brother's memory that I make sure my stories are fun and encouraging. If there is a little darkness it is not there for long.
That being said, the best way to get more readers is to continuously try to improve. Improve on technical writing. Improve on complexity. Improve on characterization. Improve on character arcs. Or maybe, if you write darker stories, try to get some humor in there somewhere to reach a broader audience. If you write lighter stories, try to add some drama here and there to spice things up a bit. It never hurts to broaden your horizons, even if you do prefer one style over another.
I think what AnnieL says makes perfect sense.
