Kathy was saying yesterday that she writes even though not in the same financial position as Dan Brown. Kathy is not alone - hundred upon hundreds of writers do well but never achieve the super rich status, or even the ability for their writing to keep the wolf from the door! Why do we do it? Simply because first we have to, all these people invade our heads so we have to let them out, or go mad, and secondly we love it. There is a great deal of pleasure to be gained by taking your characters off to some place you always wanted to visit, but have never been able to. I love doing this. The research is such fun, you know people often say the planning is part of the pleasure, and that's how it is.
If you fall into the trap of writing solely for the money do you lose something? I always think some fabulous writers seemed to lose the will. They started off writing wonderful books and then somehow lost their way. I am not going to name names, but if you think about it I think you will come up with a couple.
Write for love and not money...but a little more money would be good, wouldn't it?
5 comments:
Well said. The money may never come, but we still have fun.
Great blog. Knew you would understand.
Totally agree, Margaret. One aspiring writer once said to me that she wrote simply in order to be published, which shocked me. As far as I'm concerned (and you, and many other writers), I write because I love writing and can't NOT write! Being published is a bonus, earning money from what we love doing is a double bonus (even if it isn't enough to buy that villa in the south of France!).
Glad you agree folks, I was told by one writer that I was unprofessional for thinking like that. And that by someone who hasn't published a quarter of the books I have!
LOL, money is always welcomed but you're so right about writing for the love of it. Great post!
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