A Question for You

    What reward do you get from writing?

    I know my own answer to this, but I’d like to hear yours. Why do you write? What benefit do you derive from writing? And also, if no one ever read a word you wrote, would you keep writing?

    I’m eager to hear your thoughts on this.

    79 Responses

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    62. In much the same way I eat when hungry, I write because it is a force that needs to be reckoned with. And just like finishing a meal, I feel better after wrangling my thoughts onto paper.
      I would write with or without an audience. Always have. Always will. Eating too can be solitary, but is so much more pleasurable in the company of others.

      1. Nice comparison. I have a lurking ambiguous feeling about the company of others who may attend to my writing. I love it, and I avoid it too. Odd. I don’t need the glory, but I do feel a kind of inner joy at the joining going on when I know I’m being read or that I am responding to someone else’s writing.

    63. Why do you write?

      I get bored with my usual activities. With writing, I get to color outside the lines where the lines are prompts that I would not otherwise bother with.

      …

      What benefit do you derive from writing?

      I get to commit felonies without fear of reprisal or jail time.

      …

      And also, if no one ever read a word you wrote, would you keep writing?

      Probably not.

      2. Hi Jeff, I have read a personal diary written in fountain pen in a leather bound journal dated about 1886. I returned it to the granddaughter of the author, and later wished that I had not.
        I thought it would be smart to transcribe the contents and then compare them to historical details which I have learned since the original reading. Sadly the diary has been lost.
        So, even if you never know that you have readers, it might be true somewhere else or at some other time.
        Cheers

    64. I plan to keep blogging. In fact, I’m having a lovely woman I hired through Upwork.com redo the blog since WordPress has shrunk my content over the years. Not their fault–I choose the free option way back in 2008 or so, and little by little they began charging for some of the features. This blog will grow a bit in the hear future, but it will be the same idea of writing challenges and space to post/comment. I hope you’ll keep in touch!

    65. I enjoy writing and I like to receive feedback/constructive criticism to help me improve. I’m not very creative in other crafts so it gives me pleasure to have writing as a creative outlet. I’m also a reader and enjoy reading everyone’s posts. I very much enjoy the diversity of ideas and writing styles. If I didn’t have a safe community to share my writing I’m not sure I’d keep on. As long as you keep blogging, Ann, I’ll keep writing and reading.😊

    66. “Inside JK Rowling’s £2.2million mansion where she penned four Harry Potter books” – I’ve just seen an article about your friend, which has made me think.

    67. It was over a decade ago that I had the pleasure of sharing a bottle of 30-year-old Glenfifiddich scotch with J. K. Rowling in an airport lounge. She was traveling to Barbados, I was headed to Bayonne, New Jersey. As I recall, Ms. Rawling was quite excited about the release of her latest novel, “Harry Potter and the Humongous Mansion on a Private Island.” She claimed the story was partially autobiographical, although it was hard for me to see how a story about a child wizard could reflect any part of her current or past life. Regardless, we had a long conversation about writing, and she offered me many tips, which, unfortunately, I’ve long since forgotten. I do, however, recall her comments on the drive creative people feel that motivates them to want to write.

      “I used to write all the time,” she said. “Everything from file folder labels to grocery lists, even an occasional recipe card. I never received the slightest bit of recognition for any of my work, and some of it, in particular the file folder labels, was quite creative, even if I do say so myself. After a few years of bitter disappointment, I decided that I needed readers if I wanted anyone to appreciate, or even comment on, my work. So, my first project was an entire book dedicated to clever file folder labels. This, unfortunately, created little interest among the buying/reading public. A literary agent told me that, given my level of experience, only by magic could I produce something people would want to read, much less pay money for. And thanks to that comment, ‘boom,’ Harry Potter was born.”

      With that, Ms. Rowling excused herself and made her way to the restroom to powder her nose. Returning several minutes later, refreshed and quite animated, she continued, “Be sure to have pubescent child characters. If you combine swords, sorcery, and soft-core romance in your stories, you’ll sell a lot more books. Nobody will buy that ‘Johnathan Livingston Seagull’ shit in the new millennium. Also, make sure you have a segment that can be made into a video game. And don’t forget the toy market.”

      Her commentary was cut short by a public address announcement that it was time for her flight, and Ms. Rowling was off to Barbados for several weeks of “creative rehabilitation” at a famous five-star resort. Since that time, I’ve often thought about what she told me that day. The eastern philosopher, Basho, a source of many ‘deep’ quotes, might be viewed as the original author of the sentiment she conveyed when he commented, “A book without a reader is not a book. A reader without a book is a business opportunity.” I think that, in a nutshell, this is what Ms. Rowling was trying to tell me all those years ago.

      1. When I wrote this, which is total fabrication, I had no idea JK would be in the news today. One should not expect any form of ulterior motive in this piece. It was going to be either JK or Maya Angelou at the airport, and JK “won.”

        1. I enjoyed this fabrication. I’d be curious to know what conversation with Maya Angelou might’ve been like. 😊

        2. Just for you Lisa…. 🙂

          It was over a decade ago that I had the pleasure of sharing a bottle of 30-year-old Glenfifiddich with Maya Angelou in an airport lounge. She was traveling to Mozambique, I was headed to Bayonne, New Jersey. As I recall, Ms. Angelou was quite excited when she found out I was a graduate of the Beginning Writer’s Workshop and asked me many questions about effective writing. She seemed filled with self-doubt and expressed concern that she was better known as a source of internet meme quotations than as a serious writer. I tried to reassure her that a person can’t have too many autobiographies and that she should keep experiencing life as a source of material for future volumes to add to the seven she had already written.

          “I don’t know,” she said, “everything I experience seems to boil down to little more than an internet quotation on a clip-art background. Just last week, I saw a baggage handler at this very airport screwing around in front of an airplane and getting sucked into a jet engine. The damn thing sprayed ‘tomato bisque’ all over the runway. They had to bring a water truck out and hose off all the baggage waiting to be loaded. Probably a tooth or two made it to Cleveland, or whenever the hell those folks were going. So, guess what? That very afternoon, I log into Facebook and there it is,

          ‘There can be no greater disappointment in life than discovering those things you were warned not to do, were, in fact, things you shouldn’t have done. – Maya Angelou’

          I didn’t say that shit. Some clown sittin’ in his momma’s basement probably thought Maya Angelou would have something profound to say about sticking your head in a damn jet engine. Fools are ruining my life. Bastards.”

          With that, Ms. Angelou, clearly agitated, excused herself and made her way to the restroom to practice a few moments of yoga and transcendental meditation. Returning about 15 minutes later, refreshed and quite animated, she continued, “I need to get into some fightin’ shit. Maybe roller derby, or mixed martial arts. I gotta get away from all that ‘Sit Around the Campfire and Sing Kumbaya’ shit. Maybe then these freaks will stop with all the mamby-pamby quote crap.”

          Alas, her commentary was cut short by a public address announcement that it was time for her flight, and Ms. Angelou was quickly off to Mozambique for several weeks of “anger enhancement” training at a secret militant base in the hills overlooking Maputo. Since that time, I’ve often thought about what she told me that day. The eastern philosopher, Basho, a source of many profound quotes of his own, might be viewed as the original author of the sentiment she conveyed when he commented, “A quote without a speaker is not a quote. A speaker without a quote is ignored.” I think that, in a nutshell, this is what Ms. Angelou was trying to tell me all those years ago.

      2. Hahaha! Thanks for both bits of fun, Gary! You will always have a reader in me as I could never ignore your quotes. 😊

    69. I listened today to Brettany Hughes speak on the telly, about Ancient Greek culture and art, and I thought about the fact that nowadays we might not have learned how they thought, except for the writing of their scholars and the artifacts unearthed by our archaeologists!
      Recently I have reassessed my own content. Sure, I like to share laughter and joy, and have fun, and I might add to that “trueness.”
      As Emily said, “Tell the truth….”
      (So, “…tell it slant….” What does that mean? – Use parables?)
      : )

    70. In the way one never loses the desire for eating, an intrinsic love of writing and reading persists within me. Readers (or not) be damned.