Why do YOU write?

[cheymccray]

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

Comments

[antonstrout]

I write because the voices in my head tell me to.

Also, I'm the type of writer who would probably be putting down mah werds even if I didn't get paid for it. Luckily, I get paid for that so it works out nice, but my day job is on the business side of things so I think it helps me balance the artistry and the practicality of the business of writing...

Voiced in your head

[cheymccray]

I can relate to this. But in the past I've been "all or nothing," and I'm afraid if I had to work a full time job my writing would slip. But maybe not since it "is" me now.

Re: Voiced in your head

[antonstrout]

It helps that my day job means:

my editor is 200 feet down the hall
I attend meetings where my books come up
I see every detail of it happen from the inside, from Title Information Sheet to cover to galley to book

Keeps me writing here, believe me...

VOICES in your head

[cheymccray]

Wow. HOW COOL. Now that's an awesome day job! That would keep you on your toes! Not to mention if I had to work a day job, that would be a dream one. :o)

[stephanielynch]

I don't write to change lives, but writing changes my life. It makes things better. I agree with you, Cheyenne. If it didn't improve my life in some way (gave me no joy), then I would find something else to do. I am not yet in a position where I can write full time. When I am, I am going to print this entry out and put it on the corkboard.

Writing for ourselves

[cheymccray]

This is so important. While I went through that situation--and it continues--I got so wrapped up in IT rather than the reasons I write. For me. And for my readers. Now I'm writing with excitement again, and screw the other stuff. I'm doing what's important to me.

Re: Writing for ourselves

[stephanielynch]

Nod. Sometimes I wonder... if we have muses, if we don't also have enemies of our muse. Those thought patterns that continually try to tear us down. In Tarot reading, I call these "old tapes" and they seem to be related to our own feelings of inadequacies that are usually (not always, but usually) fed by our own dark selves.

Sorry. Grin. A bit woo-woo for this early in the morning.

Re: Writing for ourselves

[cheymccray]

You know, I think you're right. We allow the enemies to our muses, though, in a lot of cases, where we could choose to ignore them. Big tragic things--that's different. But things that we have a choice about whether or not to listen to and let it affect us--those are things we can set aside and write for the joy of it.

[jennablackbooks]

In the 16 years during which I wrote but couldn't get published, I often asked myself why I did it. Why did I put myself through the repeated agony of rejection when the odds seemed to be so against me? After all, even if I stopped trying to sell, I could still keep writing just for myself. I didn't have to keep banging my head against that wall.

But books have been a safe haven for me throughout my life. They've given me mental vacations from some of the worst times in my life--times that I don't know how I would have made it through if it weren't for those books that took me away from it all. After a lot of soul-searching, I decided that the reason I not only kept writing, but kept trying to get published, was because I wanted to give to readers what other authors had given to me over my life. When I got a letter from a gravely ill reader telling me my books helped make the bad days better, I felt like I'd finally achieved my goal. Words can't describe how fulfilling that was, and now I'm really glad I didn't quit.

perseverance

[cheymccray]

It's so worth it. So, so worth it. I was like you, always turning to books. Especially when I was a child through my teenage years when I needed that escape.

[dpeterfreund]

I don't see a dichotomy. I worked very hard to get to a place where I got paid for doing what I love. Isn't that what most people whose vocation is also a career do? They go to school/training/apprenticeships for years to become teachers or physicians or scholars or engineers or lawyers or blacksmiths or musicians or ice skaters?

Dichotomy

[cheymccray]

I totally see what you're saying, but I need to totally love what I'm doing to be happy. I believe that I've worked extremely hard to get to this point and yes, like any career, I should be paid, and what's cool is it's something I love. What's not cool is when --I-- allow myself to get caught up in something that affects what I love so that I've lost something important. Yes, I should get paid because I work hard at what I do. But I can't lose the reasons --why-- I write because then it's a chore and not a love.

Re: Dichotomy

[dpeterfreund]

I'm okay with things I love being a chore sometimes. That's life. Whether it's writing, or being a supportive partner, or cooking or exercising -- sometimes it's great, and sometimes it's rough.

I'm not a parent, but I imagine it's the same. You have your kids because you love them, but sometimes, it's still hard.

Re: Dichotomy

[cheymccray]

Kids---eek! I never want to think of writing like the struggles I go through with my kids. LOL.

Writing is hard work, but to me chore is something you're forced to do that you don't want to, and hard work is just a fact of life in any business.

[seanan_mcguire]

I write because when I don't, I become crazy. Literally. My friends will tell me 'go write something', because I've started to twitch. I write songs when I walk. I write dialog in my head -- and all hail the cellular phone, which means I can test word cadences outloud without anyone thinking I'm insane. I literally plotted an entire romantic comedy the other night because I couldn't fall asleep.

Once I've put the words on paper, the insane drive to get them out of my head before I explode is gone...but that's where the perfectionism takes over, and says 'now make it so this story means the same things to everyone else that it does to you'. So it helps a lot.

And yeah, the readers matter. The readers matter ENORMOUSLY. I've finished books just because one person wanted to see how they ended. That's why I depend on them so much.

Crazy!

[cheymccray]

You know, after 8 years of writing full time, I think I'd go a little crazy not writing, too. I'm always writing, so that hasn't been a problem. Just my attitude has been lately. Now I have a whole new outlook. That I'll bang myself over the head with if I ever let something bother me again that interrupts my writing joy!

Re: Crazy!

[seanan_mcguire]

I've been working full time and doing my best to write full time at the same time, which may explain the writing-based madness: it's my form of sleep deprivation. I freely admit, I want to write full time partially so I can occasionally GET SOME SLEEP.

Re: Crazy!

[cheymccray]

Yes, sleep is a gooood thing. LOL.