Why do YOU write?
This is x-posted from The Midnight Hour but I thought I'd share here. It's a piece of me, but maybe it will resonate with some of you.
There was a discussion I read a while back on another blog. A question was raised about why authors write. Comments were made that writers “say” they write for the love of it, but it’s “really” for the money and the chance for fame. One well known category author said she and a few of her contemporaries write for the money, that it’s a business. Interesting.
I used to be in sales and made an excellent living at it. I quit my job to write full time. It took a while, but I was one of the fortunate that relatively early on started making a good income. I sold my first manuscript 18 months after I started writing, which isn’t too bad. In the meantime I sold to educational testing and a few other places.
But you know what? Yeah, the money’s good when you get to a certain point. But if I’m not writing for the love of it and for my readers, it’s not worth it. I might as well be back in sales. Forget my editor and agent and even the money. I love my editor and agent to pieces, and the money can be nice but they’re not why I write.
I’ve been in a situation recently where the joy of writing was not coming easily and I wasn’t feeling happy and excited like normal. For a relatively small period of time, it became a chore, not a love. Had nothing to do with my current publisher or editor or agent-but something had snatched the sheer joy and love from me. I would rather not make the money than feel that way, and I am completely serious.
Then this weekend I spoke with the mother of one of my son’s friends. We chatted and then she talked about how her own mother just passed away a week or so ago, and she told me how she would read aloud my books to her mother and how much she loved them and how much it helped her get through her pain.
I cried. How could I be so selfish as to allow myself to dwell on something that I can chose to ignore instead of writing for the love of it?
That’s where my joy is. That’s where my love is. My readers. I’ve had many readers write to me and tell me to never stop writing because my books have helped them get through tragedies or constant pain they have to live with or even when they’re housebound due to illness or lack of mobility. How can I not love what I do when I can touch lives like I never could when I was in sales?
I do write for myself. But more importantly, I write for my readers and I won’t ever forget you.