Why Bother? A Question For Writers

Yesterday's post was about getting discouraged as a writer. Late last evening, I remembered a short piece I'd written to submit to a writing newsletter. It seemed to fit quite well with the earlier post.

Why Bother?

Does it sometimes appear that writing is meant to defeat a writer rather than buoy her to great heights? Do you ever wonder why in the world you're beating your head against the writing wall? Have you asked yourself “If it is this hard to become a widely published writer, why bother?”

We bother because we enjoy stringing words to make sentences, sentences to make paragraphs and paragraphs to create a story. We bother because there is something satisfying to our soul when we write. We bother because we are inspired by thoughts spinning through our minds, thoughts wanting to be sifted and sorted and put together coherently.

We bother, and I include myself here, because we love to write. We bother because we have something to say. We bother because we may want to prove something to ourselves. We bother because we know that the more we write, the more we grow as a writer.

We bother because we've had positive feedback from readers. We bother because we've had some encouraging rejections from editors. We bother because we've had enough acceptances to know that we are not a washout as a writer. We bother because we have something to offer to others. We bother because we’d miss writing too much if we stopped.

Now, aren't those enough reasons to stay on the writing journey? They are for me, and I hope you feel the same. Just keep in mind that there is no express elevator. You move up one step at a time.