My ‘Why’

Ask anyone who attempts writing a book, and I mean seriously attempt it with re-writes and revisions and editing and marketing and all the nitty gritty bits that aren’t just putting words to page, and they will tell you this stuff is hard work. It’s not all day dreams and coffee shops, tippy tapping at keyboards until a book magically appears before you. Art in general is hard, with hours of unseen work mastering our craft and honing adjacent skills to create something that you can’t be sure anyone will even like.

So why do it? For me it’s both really simple and a little hard to actually put in words.

I write for other people. I write to bring them comfort and joy (which sounds strange when you consider how much death and blood and emotional lows I like to work in). I write so that people like me can be seen and know that they’re not alone, they’re not broken and they’re worthy of love and acceptance and all the fluffy things we often see others enjoying in media.

The biggest and best compliment I have ever gotten for my writing was being told someone reads it when they’re down and it cheers them up. Even thinking about that makes me tear up a little.

I have no interest in being rich, because if I was I wouldn’t be a writer. I have even less interest in being famous. All I want is to give people an escape from reality. I want to whisk people away and distract them from all the bad things for a bit; give them a break from the crushing horrors of our world.

If I can have one person, one reader, tell me my words made life a little easier, even if it’s only for a few moments, I’ll have succeeded.

That’s my ‘why’. It may sound a little pompous in places, but it’s the reason I keep going back to writing. Everytime I think about giving it up (and I consider quitting at least once a week) a tiny voice whispers at the back of my mind “but what if this is the story that someone needs?” Even if it’s not, and no one cares or wants to read what I’m throwing out into the world, I have to keep pushing the words out just in case.