Why Write

When I began my writing adventure I really didn't know what I was in for, or what would actually become of it. I just knew I had a story to tell and I wanted to get it down on paper, and then eventually a computer.

A tale had exploded from my head and after many revisions, rewrites, editing, and a year or so later, I had my first novel. I'm paraphrasing here because I don't want to bore you with my task of the endless query process and depressing rejections. Let's approximate, it took...a while before I signed a contract.

I didn't go to college. I didn't take creative writing courses. I didn't know the first thing about writing. But, I was a voracious reader. I find it a pleasant diversion of humdrum life to venture into a variety of fantastic novels. 

Now ~ a few books and years later, I've learned quite a bit about grammar, pronouns, adverbs and adjectives (which I tend to overindulge in) and needless to say I'm still at the learning stages. Like life, I believe writing is an everyday learning process.

Then comes the unceasing and mindboggling marketing, promotions, and not only book promos, but promoting yourself as an author. Then after all that, book sales go into the dumpster. To get books into the public eye through promo newsletters, its beneficial to sell your baby at the low price of 99 cents. All that hard work for pennies seems ludicrous. Kindle ebooks, if you're an indie or self-published author are generally priced between $2.99 - $4.99, and I believe that's a steal.

It would be awesome to make scads of money for our novels, or have our books be a main source of income, but that's highly uncommon. Only if you're J.K. Rowlings, James Patterson, Stephen King .... etc... and/or happen to get your book made into a movie, then you might be swimming in dough. If your writing a novel and hoping for riches and notoriety,  then you'll be disappointed if that's your expectations. 

Usually between the revisions and the unceasing edits, I'm not a happy camper. I realize editing puts the varnish and shine on our books, but I start to dislike re-reading my words a gazillion times.  

After all my complaining and thinking about the arduous task of writing a novel, I'm asking myself....

Why do I write? 

I've been asking myself that question a lot lately. Definitely not for the money. 

I finally realized something! 

Last week I was adding words to my WIP, and I found myself smiling. Yes, I was smiling ~ because I liked it. I enjoyed the fantasy world I was creating. I liked being transported to another place and time just like when I'm reading. And, I have learned a few things. My style and grammar and punctuations are getting easier to handle.

Will I continue on my writing journey? 

For now, I can't seem to stop the stories from drilling into my skull, at least for the time being. It's a dream to be bigger and better, but I must remember to just write the best that I can ~ to entertain readers, and myself.

If you're an aspiring author, 

write what makes you happy! 

And write for the Love of it!!