‘Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour.’ - Mark Twain.
What an empty life it would be if one wrote not for satisfaction but for money. If making money is your sole purpose in writing, I suggest you put your money on the lottery instead. Do not tarnish the noble art of writing by crouching over the keyboard. There are easy ways of making a bob or two.
So why do people write? Why do some people climb mountains, boat or ski? Why do people take courses in art and paint pictures, why do others create beautiful sculptures or compose music, poetry?
They do so because their doing so gives them endless pleasure and satisfaction. When they complete their challenge, they enjoy a sense of achievement that money cannot buy. Their triumph brings enormous respect. With hands in harmony with hearts and minds, they produce something that endures long after they have passed on. This is what motivates people to write.
Writing is inspiring, it is invigorating and it is therapeutically relaxing. Never has it been easier to write. Those who do not have natural flair and experience can engage a ghost-writer for much less than the cost of most other pursuits.
When you have triumphed, it is yours and it is easy enough to share your achievement with the rest of the world. It may be a fictional story, perhaps drawn on experience.
On the other hand, your book could be your memoirs, which is far better than a framed family portrait to leave in the attic. Many will wish to recount their working experiences or tell of their travel pursuits. The successful might wish to inspire or teach others.
How I wish I could read a firsthand account of some of my forebears. Writing and publishing, until recently, was far too elitist and a challenge so formidable that only a select few could undertake to write.
Today, I would guess that, with the aid of a co-writer (ghost), most people have the ability to write a novel or memoir. Those who do write achieve something that a lottery winner cannot buy. Happily, it does not cost a lottery win to achieve their success. Why not climb up on your writer’s podium.
