Why I Write
There are hundreds of people in the world who want to write, but often they never get their feet off the ground. In my experience, it’s because they don’t have motivation that really drives them. So what is it that drives a writer to want to write, and what drives a writer to want to write as a career path? After all, it’s an artist type job. A ton of work, little money, and most never make it to the big leagues. So why do I do it? Well, I’ve boiled it down to five reasons, the biggest reasons at the bottom supporting the ones on top.
1. I will write no matter what. I’ve been working on some story and writing fiction since I was ten years old. I’ve been making up stories based on stories I already liked even longer than that. Maybe as soon as I was old enough to understand the concept. It’s why I loved toys and dolls based on movies. I’d use them to act out very different versions of the story from Disney, to anime, to Lord of the Rings. I loved it, and when my brother started to try to write (and sadly failed) I took a hand to writing down the worlds I made, and I loved it. And I’ve not stopped since. Doesn’t it just make sense to put in extra time and work into making a career when I can do what I’ll do matter what full time, the best I can, and make a living out of it that will make me happy? That’s the real mission of any entrepreneur, right? So why not this authorpreneur?
2. I love learning about marketing books. Sounds crazy, but one of my favorite memories was of reading a library book about book marketing during the commercials as I watched Shark Week. (#Sharkweek2019 while I write this!) I enjoy learning about it, improving upon it, and expanding. I enjoy using social media as a marketer much more than I do as an individual. It’s just plain fun, and why not take on some of the yucky parts to do these things I enjoy daily and for a living? No brainier right?
3. I like the challenge. I like working on improving, learning, and even organizing. It’s why my day job is front desk/receptionist/file manager. I love keeping things organized, going over the books, keeping track of inventory, seeing how things are growing, working on improving them. It sounds nuts, but I truly love it.
4. I adore the idea of keeping my own schedule. Here’s just a small picture of one of my favorite writing tools (A blog to come later on that topic). It’s my planner. In that later blog, I’ll tell you where I get them, and how I decorate them, but this thing is like my second phone but on paper. One of my favorite things to do is go over this and plan things out. I love going over the calendar and blocking out due dates, appointments, and goals.
5. The freedom writing gives in working out time is worth every second. Family is number one in my book, followed closely by other relationships with friends and boyfriends. Family is central in my life, and starting my own family one day is really my number one life goal. And writing gives me a career to shoot for until I find the right time to start a family, and once built up, is easy to change gears into a part-time, more slow paced job to do while I raise little ones.
All in all, there’s really no down side. Yes, there are things I hate, likely a topic for another day, but really there’s so much good, so much joy, and so much growth in fighting to make this a career for me, that I honestly cannot see another path. I will write no matter what. I love book marketing. I relish the challenge. I delight in keeping my schedule. And the freedom is worth all the bad days I have to do this my whole life and attain other goals. I am a writer. I might as well be an authorpreneur and enjoy the struggle too.