Catherine Wallace has stated that there are many more reasons to write than to publish. I think it would be fun for each of us to put this postulate to the test. Here are my preliminary personal results (without sorting for importance):
I Write to:
- Leave a record of my thinking for my friends and family.
- Try my hand at the kinds of books I've always liked.
- Prove that I have something interesting to say.
- Communicate with others beyond my immediate circle of family and friends.
- Give myself the satisfaction of creating something.
- Give myself the enjoyment of quiet and concentration.
- Exercise my powers of logic and deduction.
- Improve my writing through multiple experiences.
- Learn the craft.
- Put myself into my characters' heads and learn to think like other people.
- Vicariously experience events and situations that I would not otherwise know.
- Become part of the community of writers.
- Better understand the construction of the books I read and the thinking of their authors.
- Have fun with thoughts.
- Use my imagination.
- Take my capabilities and interests beyond just doing something to earn a living.
I Publish to:
- Share my work with others.
- Try to sell some books and make some money.
- Become known to others.
- Fill my bookshelves with books by an author who shares my thoughts.
- Have unique and personal gifts to distribute without shopping.
- Communicate as a peer with other authors.
- Add to my resume.
Conclusion: Catherine is correct. Not only did I list more reasons for writing than for publishing, but also I feel that it would be easier for me to add more entries to the writing list than to the publishing list. I suggest that this is the writer's version of
Getting there is much more than half the fun.
Dear Dick,
ReplyDeleteI am impressed with your list of reasons for writing -- and when I think about them, they all make sense for many of my reasons for writing too. A creative outlet is one of my top ones. To make sense of my thinking is another reason I like to write. When I start writing (usually non-fiction), I have an inchoate idea of what I'd like to say --it's there, but foggy, caught up in a lot of extraneous, swirling thoughts. As I hone and edit, my central idea become clearer--and when I struggle to find the right words to say just what I mean, that process actually creates what I mean to say. This blog is a wonderful idea. Thanks for starting and I'll check in regularly.
My blog posts, www.familyarchaeologist.com, emerged just from this process -- trying to connect what one family has experienced and give it universal meaning. Congrats on all your publications!
Congratulations on your new blog, Dick. Good luck with it.
ReplyDeleteMy reasons for writing are simpler than yours. I write because I can't not write — pardon the double negative.