Money Was Not Why You Started Writing

I was going to do this as a video post earlier in the week and realized it turned more into a rant, so we are going to go this way...

The simple question for the day is, "Why did you start writing in the first place?"

I bring this up because frankly, I am seeing far too many writers missing the mark on this. The result of this, is that the writing is not good.

When you started writing, the odds are that you started writing because you liked writing! You loved the creating characters and throwing them into situations, just to see how things played out. You loved plotting those stories. Money was never a consideration. Sure, we all had a dream of being able to retire and just write, but that was one of those wishful thoughts, much like living on an island in Hawaii and doing nothing.

But, when the money starts to take the lead in the discussions, the author is not thinking about the story. They focus all of their attention on how to market that book, how to increase sales, and how to beef up social media to get that book to the readers. Of course, the time spent on that is taking away from the time you should be spending on making the book good.

Conferences are doing the same thing. We see over and over again conferences pushing all of the marketing approaches and not tapping into skills for making the story strong.

When ever I think about this, I am always reminded of my wife's grandfather. He used to play blackjack. He would say that as soon as he started saying things such as "If I can win this next hand, I can be back on track" then he would walk away from the table. Why? He was simply not thinking about the hand, but thinking about the money. Not good when you have money on the table.

So, ask yourself today. Why are you doing this. Money CANNOT be the motivating force. It can be, however, a great bonus when you do write well.