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Printed from https://writing.com/main/newsletters/action/archives/id/4945-Why-Are--You-Writing.html
For Authors: March 21, 2012 Issue [#4945]

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For Authors


 This week: Why Are You Writing?
  Edited by: Fyn-elf Author IconMail Icon
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Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say, but what we are unable to say. ~Anaïs Nin


You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you. ~Ray Bradbury

A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts. The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket. ~Charles Peguy


And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt. ~Sylvia Plath


I would hurl words into this darkness and wait for an echo, and if an echo sounded, no matter how faintly, I would send other words to tell, to march, to fight, to create a sense of hunger for life that gnaws in us all. ~Richard Wright, American Hunger, 1977


I try to leave out the parts that people skip. ~Elmore Leonard


If there's a book you really want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it. ~Toni Morrison


What I like in a good author is not what he says, but what he whispers. ~Logan Pearsall Smith, "All Trivia," Afterthoughts, 1931

It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by. How else, indeed, to clap the net over the butterfly of the moment? For the moment passes, it is forgotten; the mood is gone; life itself is gone. That is where the writer scores over his fellows: he catches the changes of his mind on the hop. ~Vita Sackville-West


Writing became such a process of discovery that I couldn't wait to get to work in the morning: I wanted to know what I was going to say. ~Sharon O'Brien




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Letter from the editor

Working in the publishing field, I talk to a lot of writers. When I see them, they are focused on wanting to be published. Why they want to be published runs the gamut from simply wanting to hold their book in their hands to sharing great-grandmother Letticia's recipes (or poetry or journals or family history) to writing books they think will sell. When I ask them why they write I also get a variety of answers. I've heard 'because I want to make money.' I hear this a LOT. On a 'how-to' book, this may well make some sense. But on a basic adult novel...romance/mystery/sci-fi/ novel, not so much. Of course, we all want to make a fortune...get rich and have our book picked as the next must see movie. Dreams are fun.

But if you (or anyone) is writing TO get rich, they/you are writing for the wrong reason. Some folks write because they are employed to write. That is a whole different ball of wax. For the rest of us there is really only one reason to write. Because we must write! Because is as essential as breathing. Because (to quote a friend) if you cut us; we bleed ink.

The vast majority of writers who publish their books will not get rich, have lines around the block at book signings or have their story blazing across every movie theater in the country. How well one does is directly related to how well they (not the publisher) markets their book. Sure the publisher can get them going, can lead them in the right direction and give them a variety of ideas as to how and where to market their book, but bottom line is that it is up to the author to push their book, to get out there and do what ever it takes to sell/market or push their book at every conceivable opportunity.

There is nothing, aside from actually giving birth, quite like the feeling of FINALLY holding your book in your hands. You smell it, touch it, grin like crazy and text photos of it to your friends. You cry, bounce off the walls and can't stop grinning. You've done the work, perhaps even gone through the 'tear your hair out' frenzy of trying to lay it out/format it yourself that seems harder than writing the book in the first place. NOW comes the hard work. Selling it. Marketing it. Getting the word out! This is where the passion you have for writing can come to the fore because here the passion will help you sell your book because you are so vested in everything about it. It is one of the greatest joys and some of the hardest work you will ever do. EVer! And worth every second!


Editor's Picks

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 The Greyhound to Somewhere Open in new Window. (E)
The journey we choose to take is often much more than the destination.
#1701962 by Calli Seren Author IconMail Icon


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#1781219 by Not Available.


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Night and Day Open in new Window. (13+)
The unlikeliest of friends find in one another life long soul sisters.-1st place Winner!
#1797916 by Mara ♣ McBain Author IconMail Icon


 Fluffy the Dragon Open in new Window. (E)
She really was a nice pet. No, really she was!
#1674943 by J. A. Buxton Author IconMail Icon


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Unraveled Tapestry Open in new Window. (13+)
A beautiful mother of six is disappearing a little each day.
#1591959 by Winnie Kay Author IconMail Icon


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#1710004 by Not Available.


Submitted items

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Word from Writing.Com

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Ask & Answer

bronxbishop writes: As a writer, I do not give a second thought as to the gender of an author. If the book interests me, I go for it. My men friends live in a different era though. I guess I will have to put a Nora Roberts novel some place where I can read it without my friends giving me a hard time about reading a chick novel. It is sad that guys reading books written by women is still "Taboo" in this liberated day and age in which we live. Hang on, Nora. Papa's got a brand new bag.

*grin*

dejavu_BIG computerprobs Author IconMail Icon says: Slickery...*Bigsmile* now I just have to love that word, it paints pictures of kids licking lolipops, black ice, ice coating trees, etc. my new favorite word ! Rain depresses me, sometimes it soothes, wind scares me because it rubs branches against the house and makes my cat growl. I never thought of how weather could affect characters. interesting thought.

LJPC - the tortoise Author IconMail Icon comments: Fyn, I don't think I've read anything by Nora Roberts, but your NL sure makes me want to. I love all the details you included, especially the part about her characters having quirky traits and traditions. Characters need to be colorful and over-the-top and quirkiness always helps.
Thanks for the great NL! *Bigsmile*~ Laura

Thanking you both :)

jim1184 Author IconMail Icon adds: This news letter is too good. Now I have two other aspect to explore and add to my rewrite process. Great! oops, I mean the letter.

Uh huh...lol Thanks *big smile*

writerpenman Author IconMail Icon says: Hi, Just perused the issue and thought I'd say hi, and look forward to reading this more thoroughly in the near future.

Sounds good to me!

troy ulysses davis Author IconMail Icon writes: I enjoyed the editorial and look forward to reading some of your picks.

Love reading this...I love hearing folks are reading our editor's picks!!!



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