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Should I write only for money?

Monday, January 10th, 2011

Last week, I participated for the first time in #writechat on Twitter. #writechat was created by Julie Isaac (a.k.a., @WritingSpirit – Follow her!), and it’s a weekly event every Sunday afternoon from 12-3PM PST.

For all you writers out there, this was a valuable use of a Sunday afternoon. You can dispense advice or ask questions from dozens of writers from a wide range of experiences. You should go.

One of the topics that came up last week was whether someone should write only for money. One participant indicated that she always writes with the intention of getting paid. There’s a lot of financial sense in that: why would you spend your time working on non-productive tasks?

While I applaud the concept, there are some other reasons to write with no expectation of money:

A story for a family member or friend – They, particularly children, love having a story crafted just for them
A letter for a loved one – There’s still no beating the rush of receiving a personal letter in the mail
To try out a new style – When you’re just trying out a different writing style, there’s often no market to sell to
To expand your horizons – When you’re trying to make sense of a new technology, experience, or person, sometimes writing it out will bring clarity
To preserve something for posterity – A journal can be an invaluable asset for your surviving family members when you go
To help build a relationship – Sometimes a letter is just the right thing to help you get that new client or learn more about a family member’s past

In some cases, you may still be able to sell your writing. However, for the most part, I think this is unlikely. However, you’re still investing in your own skill and helping others you know, so there’s a lot of non-monetary reward.

Does lack of a financial reward lessen your drive?

When there’s a purpose, I think we’re driven to write better. Sometimes non-monetary rewards are those that will help drive our for-profit writing to even higher levels.

What do you think? Should a writer only write for-profit? What other places might a writer’s efforts be spent on that are more valuable than money?

Tags: criticism, money, motivations, twitter, writing, writing for money, Writing Strategies
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Building a Writing Community

Monday, October 4th, 2010

Lately, I’ve been getting much more heavily involved in the writing community near Rochester, MN. While there are a lot of writers and writing groups in the area, we suffer from several problems:

Lack of communication between the groups
Slow propagation of knowledge about events in the area
Not enough networking events in the area

It seems ironic that writers should have such a hard time communicating with each other.

The problem is that writers tend to be solitary creatures by nature. When we’re practicing our craft, we tend to toil away, tapping at keyboards or scratching at paper. The work doesn’t lend itself well to networking with others.

It isn’t until we’re finished with a particular piece that we tend to seek out others. And then, just as often, we don’t know where to turn.

So what are we doing about it?

A couple of other leaders of groups in the area and I are joining forces to change this. We want to move from having writing groups to creating a vibrant writing community. Currently we’re looking at enhancing an existing writing conference to include more opportunities, and to serve as a catalyst for inspiring success for writers in our area.

I’ll post updates and lessons learned as they happen. Watch this space–I expect to report exciting developments soon!

Tags: community
Posted in Business Writing, community, Creative Writing, Writing Conferences | Comments Off on Building a Writing Community