Once question I’ve heard over the years is why do I write? There is an assortment of ways to answer the question, some more serious than others. In talking to other writers, it seems there are some common threads. Maybe some of those reasons apply to your writing as well.
The obvious answers are short. Writing is fun. Writing is a cheap hobby. Maybe we have something we want to say to the world and writing lets us do that. If you are skilled, writing can earn money. On top of those, my brain won’t let me get to sleep at night if it is in the mood to write.
Those all make sense, but they don’t discuss the long-term outcomes of our writing. Many of us would like to be professional writers. That would imply that we want enough income from our writing that we don’t need a second source of funds. That would allow us to write full time. Another sign of success is when publishers and agents actively seek us for our writing skill. Once Hollywood starts turning your writing into movies, that’s a good sign as well.
I want other things to show the success of my writing. For example, I want to create a non-obvious phrase that is so good that it becomes part of the language. Not just a short-lived pop culture reference, but I want my phrase to appear in dictionaries throughout the future. I want the phrase be seem so natural that people can’t imagine the language without it.
Similarly, I want at least one character that is so popular that people use the name of the character to reference people with similar characteristics. In the same way that any do-gooder scoundrel could be called a Robin Hood, people should use the name of my character. Honestly, I don’t care if the use is positive, as long as the name lives on as part of culture.
The title of at least one of my writings should be used in the same way. Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet is used as a metaphor for love even centuries later. I want the same impact from what I write, even if it is just as wrongly applied as that one.
Finally, I want English majors in colleges everywhere to curse my name. I want them exhausted with the analysys forced upon them by overzealous professors who have completely misunderstood my work. I want them to cry out, “Why do we have to read this garbage?” and have the faculty reply, “Garbage? You’ve missed the whole point!” The only logic response to that is for the students to put funny hats on the statues and busts of me wherever found.
There is a very good chance that I will not reach all of those goals. Given my publishing history so far, it’s unlikely that even techno-archaeologists will find the remains of my blog in the coming millenia. Still, the picture of those motivators can help me through on the odd occasion that the writing has stalled. Hopefully, you have similar dreams.