WHAT’S THE POINT?

According to some surveys, only about 10 % of all writers make a living solely from their writing. I’m sure there are others who are teachers or do public speaking. But, let’s face it, this is not a job for those who want to eat on a regular basis and pay their bills.

The next time you attend a writer’s conference or a meeting for a writer’s group, maybe even get together with a critique group, consider how many of those folks actually earn a substantial income. I know so very few myself. Most of my literary acquaintances have what we refer to as ‘day jobs’, those places where a company pays us for doing a task or performing some function that is important to them but, in most cases, means very little to us.

So, there you have it: We’re not in it for the money. Recognition? Perhaps, in a small circle of folks, or maybe a slightly larger one if you attend big groups. Someone will remember you for your personality or your Hawaiian shirts. Yet, how many of them talk about your work and what you’ve been able to accomplish? There might be some devoted followers among your associates. Just as likely, they are seeking their own audience.

It is not an avocation that cries out to be followed except by the most devout among us. There is a passion for the craft of writing, a compulsion toward creating something unique and special and personal that had not existed before. This is not designed to turn us into deities. On the contrary, the act of creating is a God-given skill that certainly needs development.

I know what I feel when I bake a loaf of bread and make three pounds of bratwurst links or complete the first draft of a novel. Granted, the first two might take up a portion of a Sunday morning while the latter can easily require months of my time, meted out in small portions over the evenings after work and dinner.

You can’t ask a writer why they do what they do. Each of them will have a different answer. It will not be a generic response because writers are individual creatures who come from different backgrounds, have different skill sets, and follow different patterns of creation. And I don’t think anyone other than another writer could even understand the answer given.

Don’t choose to make it your mission to find out why writers write. Unless you venture down that long, cloudy road yourself, you will never understand. Rather, appreciate the slice of bread, the sausage link, the novel, the short story, the poem. Understand only that a great deal of time and effort went into for the sole purpose of your satisfaction.