The Joy of Doing

Why do you write? What do you want from it? There is no one answer. Every person will generally have a combination of reasons. However, if you want to be a writer to get rich, I will highly recommend putting down the pen and choosing a different field.

There can be some great glamor in writing. You get paid for being creative. You get fans of your work who get excited just to be in your presence. But that is not why you should write. For one thing, it is very unlikely it will happen.

The writing market is supersaturated. Everybody thinks they can write. Everybody thinks they will make it big and live the sweet life. That is just not going to happen. You are an artist and the simple fact is that there is never much money in the arts.

Ultimately, you should be writing because you love doing it. You should feel joy from the parts of writing. Be excited to come up with new ideas, feel brilliant when you figure out a path that characters take which will tie up all the loose ends, feel like a craftsman when you revise and edit your work into exactly what you want.

If you do not feel the joy of doing your art, then you are wasting your time. That joy is the greatest reward you will get from writing. Without it, all you've got is a shell.