Why do you want to write? Is your purpose to connect or communicate or create? Those are good intentions. If you have a wish for revenge, status, fame, or wealth, those desires may be blocking your writing.
Wealth
Wanting money is not a problem in itself. Most people want to live a life of comfort and ease. There is no sin in having a closet full of shoes, a big house, a vacation condo on the ocean, or all of the above. The problem arises when would-be writers think writing the next great novel or screenplay is an easy key to fame and fortune.
The above described lifestyle is possible for Stephen King, Nora Roberts and J. K. Rowling, but wealth is not part of the picture for most writers. Most writers need other jobs to pay their bills. Also, writing is hard work and takes a lot of time and energy. It’s not (usually) a quick path to living large.
Writers who have wealth, fame, and status likely acted from their passion for the written word. The benefits came as side effects. Their primary motivation was NOT greed or a get-rich-quick scheme, but to create, communicate, or connect.
Status
The desires for status has led me down too many false paths to count. For example, I acquired both my college degrees for status, to prove to myself and the world that I was not stupid.
I sometimes did stupid things, so people treated me like I was dumb. After I graduated from college with honors and attained a master’s degree while working full time and raising two children, I proved to myself, and yes, to others, I was, in fact, smart. Not a genius, but a fairly bright woman.
If I hadn’t spent all those years proving to myself that I was worthy of status, I might have gone more deeply into my love for poetry. I might have done a lot of things with my writing other than typing hundreds of college papers. Instead I got caught in a young writer’s bind.
Creative types are not honored by our society unless they make a lot of money. Most people think you’re simply self-involved if you’re a writer or a painter or a singer who is not famous and rich. They think you’re a dreamer, or a slacker. Hence my need to attain status. But all those degrees really did was land me in a profession that is so time and mind sucking, that when I taught full time, I had no energy to write.
If I had not been concerned about status, I would have remained a waitress or a secretary and had a lot more time to devote to writing.
(Not that teaching is a bad thing. Teaching English is an especially challenging and admirable career, but best suited to those who have no secret desire to write their hearts out. Trust me, you will be too busy preparing lessons on other writers to write your own words, and you will be too busy checking zillions of papers you’ve assigned to write your own story, and you will be too emotionally drained from dealing with rooms full of students to write anything other than a grocery list.)
And yet writers need to work. My advice is to find a job you don’t have to take home with you, and does not require overtime.
Fame
Fame is status with glitter. People want it for the same reason they want status. So that other people can think they’re just great, and so that they can believe it too.
Fame and status are not bad things in themselves. Sometimes they come, like wealth, just because you’re following your passion. It’s not like Bill Gates decided one day that he could not live without applause and so he created Microsoft.
Motive is everything. If your motivation comes from a place of fear instead of love, it will put you on the wrong path, and turn your dreams into nightmares. Spend some time thinking about your motives for writing, and make sure that they’re not masking some deeper desire for applause or approval.
Revenge
I once heard an author answer the question “Why do you write?” by saying something like “Revenge is as good a reason as any.” That has not been my experience. Whenever I’ve written for revenge, the result has always been unprintable.
Whining to win sympathy is simply not good reading, but it can be theraputic writing if kept behind the pages of a personal journal.
However, in skilled hands, writing for revenge can result in a really good read. The Devil Wears Prada and The Nanny Diaries are great stories because there’s more to them than disgruntled employees turning author to seek revenge.
Bad people make good stories and the boss in Prada and the mom in Nanny are indeed selfish brats if not evil incarnate. Readers delight in seeing the main characters, down-trodden victim both, finally awaken to their self-respect, stand up tall, and dump these bosses from hell.
Wanting money, status, fame, or revenge can unfocus the writer’s true goals of creation, communication and connection. Desiring riches and acclaim are not bad things if the desires are balanced with a higher goal. Writers more than most need to keep their focus on what’s really important: the creative process, not the material gains that might or might not come our way.
Coming Soon: Create, Communicate, Connect
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