When was the last time you asked yourself why? I mean creatively, but we can definitely question why we do anything. Why do I write? Why do I, if I love writing so much, watch too much television…? Why do I eat chocolate when I’m trying to eat heathily? Why? Why? Why?
For any creative pursuit, we need to know why we do it. Oh this is so boring! Can’t we just make for no reason other than we want to? Absolutely! That is the very best reason. Asking ourselves why can come in handy on the days when we don’t want to. When we really can’t be assed sitting down at the page or the canvas or the potting wheel or the keyboards…
By asking the question, we form a road map towards our goal.
Why do I write? Because I love telling stories. So why not just write? Why bother with the publishing…? Why do I publish? Because I want to share my stories and one day make a career from my art again. Why do I want to make a career from writing? So I can do it more. Why do I want to do it more? Because I love it and I want to travel, talk to people, and write stories. Why? Because that makes me feel alive.
I feel like my son is little again, fielding all these whys!
Asking myself why I write reminds me that I love it! If I’m feeling despondent about writing (like last night when I wasted 2 hours trying to work out how to use Scrivener…) I ask myself why I write. When I check my book sales and I see I’ve made 70cents for the month, I ask myself why I write. By asking yourself why five times you should either get to the core of the issue and rethink it or feel fired up because you remember how much you love it.
Feature photo by emily morter
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