Looking at the Positives--What Keeps Me Writing

I'm eighty-plus pages into book 6 of the Black Horse Campground series (no title... yet), and, in some ways, things couldn't be better.

But things can always be better, right? I could be making a ton of money, have given up my day job as a cake decorator, and have thousands--if not millions--of adoring fans.

However, I choose to look at the positives. Though I have a small readership, I know many of my readers personally. And I know that they like my work. They are willing to pay for my books, not just get them for free. I can go on amazon.com, Barnes and Noble's website, and GoodReads and see my books listed (and not as self-published!) whereas that once seemed to be an impossible dream. My day job, though the fodder of many jokes, still gives me a measure of creative satisfaction and pays the bills as well, which allows me to spend time on writing. And traveling to book signings, where I get to meet a few new "fans" and sell a few books... perhaps enough to cover travel expenses.

"Seems like very little pay for a lot of work," so I've been told. Well, a lot depends on your definition of "work" and "fun". When it comes to the writing, work = fun... even the stuff that many writers (including myself) bemoan. The editing, the rewrites, the promotional stuff sounds like a lot of dull, boring work, but it's part of the process and a writer can either choose to let that overshadow the fun stuff and make it all seem like drudgery... or they can choose to focus on the positive.

Focusing on the positive sometimes seems unrealistic, perhaps sappy and overly sentimental. It's more "real", some will say, to be honest about the hard, thankless work, the long hours, the lack of success in finding readers and--the big one--selling books. However, I don't really think that focusing on the negatives will make the job any easier or more fulfilling. After all, I write for the fun and the joy of it. To me, having readers and seeing my books for sale is already more than I expected. Being a writer is not one of the most well-paying jobs out there and very few people actually make a living, much less millions, from writing.

What keeps me going is the satisfaction of doing what I love. It's not a job I absolutely HAVE to do in order to make a living. I have been in situations where I had to make myself show up to work out of a sense of duty and responsibility, mainly to my family that was counting on my paycheck, and I managed to make it through the day with smile. But that is not the reason I write. I could walk away from my writing this moment and it wouldn't make any difference in my bank account or lifestyle. I even believe that my family and friends would still love me if I did so. So if I'm not happy, then why do it?

But I am happy. And so I write....