Why do I Write?
I had a reader ask me a question yesterday. He’d read some blog posts and all of my books, but he wanted more. So he asked me, “Why do I write?” I thought that was an excellent question – good enough even to turn into a blog post.
Several years ago when I hit my head and got the crazy notion that I could turn the crap I wrote into something people might want to read I started off with a short essay I wrote on that exact subject. I referenced this document before I responded to the reader and, believe it or not, everything I wrote still rang true.
“I have a few reasons that I want to write. The first is because I want to have hope in humanity. I want to write about characters that evolve and develop into people that prove they can change and become better. By having others read about characters I have written, I hope they in turn find it in themselves to realize they can also improve their lives
Another reason is because I enjoy writing so much. I like to share my ideas with the hope that others will be entertained by them and similarly captivated. I would like very much for writing to be my primary career, to allow me to explore more of my ideas and thus connect with that many more people who have similar interests.”
In the four years I’ve been doing this professionally I can say that my goals and motivations have not changed. Sure, every fledgling writer dreams of being the next James Patterson or Stephen King, but only the exceptionally rare, talented, or damn lucky writer will strike it rich. The rest of us toil endlessly. Even with my breakneck pack of a a novel a month I’m still fighting to hit the point where writing pays the bills.
The ironic part is that if I were to dedicate this much time and effort to just about anything else I can think of, I’d be on top of the world. The problem is I wouldn’t be happy. Writing is doing what I love and that makes it worth the blood and sweat.
I’ve read some posts on various social media venues recently talking about writers who write for more or for the market. My friends, this is the wrong business to be in if you’re looking for money and financial security. I know two months in advance what my paycheck is going to be, and sometimes that’s a terrible thing because I know it means I’m that much further away from being able to do what I want to do.
Another popular meme is to encourage writing for the soul rather than the market. That annoys me. A writer has to eat and pay bills. Why does it have to be one or the other? Why can’t a writer do both at the same time? To me no matter what I write I am writing for and from my soul. I’m even digging deep to provide content for my current project, a modern fiction / romance / smut series that I hope turns into a thriller / crime / murder mystery / government agent series. I’m about halfway through book 2 at the moment and I’m having a lot of fun with it, even though I haven’t come up with a good name for any of the books or the series yet.
I’m also itching to get back to fantasy, specifically the characters from my Blades of Leander series. It’s true that Blades of Leander is my most successful series presently, but that’s not why I want to get back to them. I’ve had feedback from readers asking for more. I’ve had feedback from myself asking for more too! It’s a damn shame I can only write one book at a time, even if I do burn them out crazy fast.
Ultimately what you write isn’t important. Why you write isn’t either. What matters is that you find what you need in the process of writing. I’ve heard it said that writers write to discover themselves. I won’t deny there’s a therapeutic effect to writing. Where else can you put the face of a d-bag of a boss on a villain and have him run over by a herd of llamas without getting in trouble? Incidentally, I’m happy with my current bosses, so please treat that as an example and not a hidden message.
Now if I can make a few bucks while I’m doing it and keep people entertained, it’s a win for everybody!
To learn more about Jason Halstead, visit his website to read about him, sign up for his newsletter, or check out some free samples of his books at http://www.booksbyjason.com .
