The Only Good Reason to Write
I was absolutely blown away by the response I received to the post of a few weeks back: “6 Lifestyle Changes You Can Make to Protect Creativity.” In this post, I came forward with some of the surprising, painful, and ultimately liberating truths I have discovered on my road to becoming a successful author. I talked about how success isn’t always all it’s cracked up to be and how, if you’re unprepared for its reality, it can quickly turn itself into soul-sucking drudgery.
I felt compelled to write that post simply because the things I have been learning in the past few years were things no one else really seemed to be talking about. In the face of the many kind emails I often receive saying, “you make it look so easy” and “I don’t know how you do it,” it would have been disingenuous, at best, to pretend the journey to success as a modern-day author really is as easy, happy, and fulfilling as we’re always told it should be.
I wanted to share that post. But I wasn’t sure how it would be received. Would people get it? Were my experiences too specific to my own life to be insightful for others? Would my feelings perhaps even be criticized as ungrateful when I have been lucky enough to live the dream of so many writers?
But you did, indeed, get it. Oh boy, did you get it!
I knew in my heart that post was important, but I had no idea how important. Not only was the site flooded with comments and shares, but I don’t think I have ever received more emails about a single post. I was deeply touched and encouraged, and I thank you all for that. But, even more, I realized the tremendous importance of this universal conundrum: how to strive for worthwhile success, in all its many facets, while remaining centered in the values that make life and art truly meaningful and fulfilling for us all.
One of the emails I received was from Bill DeWitt:
Would you talk a little more about … why not to write from a motivation for publication and fame, and what motivation should guide you? And even some ideas how to better get there?
In that original post, I discussed several steps you can take to protect your creative energy. Today, at the urging of Bill and so many more of you, I want to talk about some of things you might need to be protecting your creativity from.
5 Reasons Writers Write That Make Them Unhappy
As any writer who has sought to create complex and realistic characters knows motivations are tricky. The reasons we choose to do things are often dimensional, sometimes paradoxical, sometimes hidden even from ourselves. Very often, we can do things for the right reasons and the wrong reasons all at the same time. And other times, motivations that started out as one thing can slowly morph into the other, as time and circumstances evolve our understanding and experience of life.
That’s just the way it is. It’s neither good nor bad, but simply a truth we’d all do well to recognize and prepare for.
Total disclaimer: Every single one of the following “negative reasons” for writing have been huge catalysts in my own journey at one point or another. And, truthfully, they were all effective in their time and place. I probably wouldn’t be the person I am today without them.
But they’re still negative. We need to recognize them as such, uncover the deeper primal motivations driving them, confront them, and use them as launch pads to greater growth.
1. Greed
Ah, money. I often think of Jo March’s statement in the 1994 adaptation of Little Women, in which she growls:
I hate money!
What she meant was that she hated that she and her family needed money. Because wouldn’t life be so much simpler if we could forget about food and just live for the rarefied gratification of art and philosophy?
Everyone wants to live a life of fulfillment, and for most of us this starts with finding a livelihood that supports that—in every sense. If you can make your living doing whatever it is you love best, then how awesome is that?
But there’s a dark side to “filthy lucre.” It is archetypal in its symbolism: of safety and security, of personal validation, of power. It requires almost superhuman courage and honesty to be able to take only what you truly need to live on and reject the rest.
Instead most of us are always in pursuit of “just a little more.”
I think you'll find this article rings true with alot of us.
Read the rest here.
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