Why write a book?

Have you ever wondered why someone would become an author? Perhaps you’re the author. Or perhaps you know someone who is an author (or at least an aspiring one). But how did they become one, and even more interestingly, why?

I can only speak for myself, and I do so because most of the people who read my blog don’t know me personally. I am not an author yet, or a novelist. I won’t consider myself to be either of these until I see my ISBN on a book cover. Winning NaNoWriMo didn’t make me feel like one, and having an unfinished second draft certainly keeps me from feeling like one. However, I’ve been a writer all of my life. I love writing! I love reading! I love literature!

If you looked in my closet you would find a gigantic bin filled with journals. If you had known me in college you’d have seen me sitting in the hallway outside of my dorm room at 1:00 AM writing my first novel on my laptop (it was a victim of a computer virus). If you looked on my family’s bookshelves you would find a book of 100 poems that I had printed and bound fourteen years ago. When I got engaged to my husband, my best friend told him that he better encourage and support my writing (the way that a best friend usually threatens the new boyfriend). So, now that I finally took the plunge into author-dom, I feel like I’m finally doing what I’m supposed to be doing.

Not everyone becomes an author because they love writing, or because they are good at writing. There are lots of reasons that people choose to write books… Perhaps they have a story or a message they want to share. Perhaps they want to be famous. Perhaps they want to be rich. Why do I do it? Because books are amazing. Books have done something for me my entire life. They are magical.

Will I get published? Maybe. Will I make money? Maybe. Would those things be nice? Yes. But does it matter in the grand scheme of things?

I do it because I love it. If I did it for money, I’d be a fool. I don’t crave fame, because I prefer the shadows. I just want to write a good book that people might like to read. Any other motive would influence my writing. I’m not a good actor. I’m too honest.