Savannah Watson

---

People write for many reasons. For a profit through book sales, to entertain, or because it’s their dream to be a ‘real’ author (FYI: you already are a real author). Regardless of the reason for writing, one of the most neglected reasons, in my opinion, is writing for yourself.

As with any creative hobby these days, there seems to be an unspoken (sometimes spoken) pressure to monetize your work. And this often leads to creating art for the sake of profit versus creating art for the sake of the art itself.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m all for making the big bucks! Let’s be real, you can’t do much without it. What I AM saying is that it is one million percent okay to write with yourself in mind. I’d even go so far as to say that it is critical to write for yourself. Here’s why:

You have very unique interests that only you know exactly what they are. Even the best book you have ever read probably has some aspect that you might have wished played out differently. You know what you like and what you wish was in a story. So, it’s okay to write something because you want to read it.

While I was writing this post, I counted how many works in progress I have that I would consider ‘for my eyes only,’ spanning back about six years:

20 +

I wrote over twenty stories that will never see the light of day, outside of my own viewing every so often when I’m feeling nostalgic or (more likely) when I forget what the document is.

These were stories that were taking up space in my already crowded brain that needed to be put on paper, but that I realized well into the project that they wouldn’t sell. They were just stories I wanted to exist so I could read them.

---

I used to feel a LOT of guilt when, 30,000 words into a project I was having fun with, I would realize that the story was not a commercially marketable one. I’d stop working on it, thinking “why waste my time on something that I can’t publish?” It wasn’t until much later when I started cutting myself some slack (in all areas of my life, to be honest) that I realized that it is just as important to write for myself as it is for any other reader because at the end of the day, I am a reader too.

Another, and arguably the most important thing to consider, is that when you have an idea nagging you constantly, it usually helps to get it out on paper. That frees up valuable, and often limited, space in your mind for new (and potentially marketable) ideas.

So, you know that story that you want to write because it’s a story you want to read? Yeah, write it! Write for yourself and be proud of the skills you gained or improved while you wrote it! Be proud that you took the time to create something purely for the joy of creating it! And if it ends up being good enough to sell, huge bonus!

Write for you too, guilt-free!

• Facebook

---