Your Happiness Makes Me Happy

Writing is a taxing act. It requires time, physical energy, mental energy, and a lot of each of them. It takes even more if you want to write something that's worth reading. So, where does all of this energy come from?

The answer is different for everybody. For some people, they just give the energy from themselves. They dig deep, muster all the strength they can, and write. Eventually, they run out of energy and want to kill themselves. It's not pleasant, but it is an option.

Another option would be to get your energy from an outside source. The classic source for "the writer" is alcohol. F. Scott Fitzgerald made it work for him (except for how it destroyed his life). Of course, you could also follow in Stephen King's footsteps and do the cocaine route (though I doubt he travels that road these days, seeing as how he's still alive). Personally, I am an empathetic person. The thing that gives me the most joy, energy, and motivation is the happiness and praise of others. As far as external sources go, it's a pretty healthy one.

So other people's happiness gives me the energy to write. How do I get other people to be happy? I show other people my writing. If my writing is good, it makes people happy. Their happiness gives me the energy to write more. I show the new writing to people and repeat the cycle indefinitely. I love a self-sufficient system. I think any system that is self-feeding without being self-destructive, no matter how needlessly complex, is a good one for a writer to follow.