Write for YOU
Fame is fleeting, we all know that, yet so many of us chase the bestseller list. Nothing wrong with that! But even if that version of success comes with a few extra dollars, money is rarely the only reason we’re in this writing world. We want to get our stories out there because, to us, they matter. And they do. Everything you write has value, even if it’s just to help you learn how to be a better writer.
But value to us, as writers, is not the same as value to the world of readers. I was reminded of this when my young-adult daughter asked about a bunch of authors who had been famous in my day but she’d never heard of them. She comes from a different generation and an author’s legacy, no matter their success in their lifetime, is never guaranteed.
This was heartening to me; it was a welcome reminder of why we write. It can’t be about how other people will read or interpret our work—or, at least, not only that. We have no control over how our stories will live on. Which means, we’re better off focusing on the here and now. The pleasure (and pain!) we get from writing for us. That’s what matters. That’s your legacy—you wrote because you wanted to. Maybe the next generation will know your name; maybe not. But if we write for us, it really won’t matter.