Why Write?

It’s not for money, so what motivates?

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

I am a writer, not a hustler

I am lucky to be financially stable and debt-free. I am not rich, but I have resources. Unless the country completely collapses, including pension funds, the stock market, and the banks, I will be okay for a while. In this time of the pandemic, I count my blessings and thank all the essential workers, especially those working in the hospitals. Because I don’t have to, it is hard for me to do anything that requires hustle. I had been spending a lot of time and energy grueling over Medium articles about how to make money on this platform, and am glad I came across this one, that advised me not to worry about that. I needed to read it. It reminded me that this is a community of writers. So, I follow his advice: I write for me, for the reasons that serve me.

First, I write to create.

Watercolor Lessons. Image and painting by author

It fulfills the urge to be creative, to make things, to make something where there was nothing before. An idea comes, then the idea becomes something — a song, a painting, an essay. I have been a writer since I was a teenager and poured out my angst in a diary and in letters to…