Sunday, December 15, 2013

Why write?

“There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can't think what to do with the long winter evenings.”
~ Quentin Crisp

Snoopy needs his scarf and stocking cap, I think, if he is going to write out in the snow.

6 comments:

Jeffrey said...

I write because the stories won't leave me alone! I get no peace until they're out there ...

Sunny said...

I write because nobody wants to hear me talk that much....or rather- no one wants to listen for that LONG.

I think I would implode if I couldn't write.

How's the book coming along, Michael? Any movement? What's the next step?

Michael Dodd said...

Several years ago -- I was still in the monastery at Holy Hill, so more than a decade ago -- I read Creative Writing for People Who Can't Not Write by Kathryn Lindskoog. I found it helpful, but my writing at that time was mostly articles about spirituality and the history of the Carmelites, published in religious journals. I think that book helped motivate me to start working on my first novel. Not sure that the novel had to get out there, but I felt good when it finally did appear as a real book.

I think blogging largely meets my have-to-write needs today, although the fact that I just pumped out 61,000 words for a novel last month indicates there may be more to it than that!

Michael Dodd said...

PS -- I just did some research on how much I have made from my three published books. (This is for a presentation I am giving today for a writers' group.) Whatever reason I am writing, it sure isn't for the money!

Michael Dodd said...

Sunny,
I am still tinkering with the book. The next step is to stop tinkering, get the final thing formatted and publish it. That may in fact prove to be a project for cold winter evenings! So with luck, maybe it will be ready before spring. Right now holiday travel and stuff is making it hard to put in as much consistent time as I need to move it forward much. But it's alive and kicking.

Sunny said...

Awesome!!! A trying to be patient. Trying being the key word. LOL..