Why I Write

            I have to say that it’s not very hard to answer this question. I remember when I first started announcing that I wanted to be a writer. I used to get all kind of mean comments like, “Well you better prepare to be poor,” or “You better have a backup plan.” Now when people ask what I plan to do with my English degree or with my life, I don’t tell them about my aspirations as a writer. I just tell them I plan to edit novels or something like that. I don’t need that negativity.

            But it got me to thinking, why do I write? Well it’s certainly not for the money because if that were the case I would have stopped when that person, who happened to be a close friend mind you, told me I was going to be poor.

            Well, I was raised under the belief that if I do what I love I will be successful and I’ll find a way to make money. Most importantly, I’ll be happy.

            Happy? How can you be happy and not have money. Let me put it like this, when I told my mother I wanted to be a writer or editor and major in English, she was not happen. She thought I was wasting my intelligence because I have the brains to be a doctor or scientist. I hate science, but I’m great at math. But I’ve always been good at telling stories and I enjoy writing stories and making other stories better.

            Over the years, she’s tried to help me cultivate all sorts of talent because I’m the kind of person who can put little effort into things and be really good at it. Music? Not for me. Management and financing. No way. Teaching. Not in this lifetime.

            You see I’m good at those things, but you couldn’t pay me enough to sit at a desk and count money or teach. I just hate doing it. But I’ll write and edit all day for free just because I love doing it and that’s what it boils down to.

            I love to write. And it didn’t matter whether I was good or bad at it. Because I enjoy it, I put the time into it to improve my craft and make it the best, not just do it well enough to make money. And that’s the kind of motivation needed for this career. Anyone can write a novel, but not everyone has the will to do it and persist, even after being reject hundreds of time.

            My point? I’m going to continue to write just like I have been doing for the past ten years because I want to write. The law of the universe is that you get out of something the effort you put into it and with this much effort, I just know that one day, all these hours writing and on forums is going to pay off.