Why Bother Writing? Here's Some Encouragement

 Why bother writing? I admit that this is a thought that has crossed my mind more than a few times lately (and by lately, I mean many of the last twenty years that I have been writing). It is hard to keep going when book sales and page views are minimal and the income produced is far below minimum wage. It is hard to see so many books out in the world with tons of reviews and sales and know that by comparison my work has failed (and by extension, I have failed), that very few people care about anything I write. To be fair, there are many writers in the same boat as me.

Of course, I'm not actually able to stop writing, at least not without feeling even worse. God gave me this gift. I have all these ideas that need to get out or else they just sort of bubble inside of me if I don't work on them, taking up mental space that is better used for other tasks.  

On my better days, I do realize that writing for one person matters, that perhaps a few someone's lives are a bit better because of something I wrote, that maybe they learned something or perhaps I gave them a few moments of entertainment. Maybe in some small way, I helped their relationship with God. That matters.

I thank God for the gift of being able to write, I thank Him for every book sale, and I am thankful that Amazon KDP publishing makes it possible for me to share my books with the world at a low cost outlay. I am thankful for the few readers I do have, especially those who have taken the time to tell me that they enjoyed one of my books. It means the world to me. My writing habit doesn't hurt anyone. It costs me my time and energy, that is all, and I've always made it a point to do it when that time or energy isn't better served doing something else. So, I am thankful for all of that, but it still hurts. I still wonder if any of it is worth it.

One of the e-newsletters I subscribe to is The Habit Weekly. Today it was offering writing encouragement from writers to other writers. I found this passage by Katie Williams beautiful:

Dear heart, what if the answer to “Why bother” had less to do with your human capacity for results and success, and more to do with God’s divine character and infinite beauty? After all, our Father is an artisan, the eternally unmade Creator who spoke the world into existence, named every star, and knit you together in the quiet mystery of the secret place. Our Savior is a storyteller, the author and perfecter of our faith and the Word-made-flesh who has overcome the dark. The Holy Spirit, our advocate and counselor, is the very breath of Truth, equipping the tabernacle craftsmen in the desert and poured out over the early church in tongues of flame.

And you, my friend—you are a child and heir of this legacy, a beloved image-bearer of the Story-shaping King. You are wired for His beauty and joy, and when you write—even when the words are halting and imperfect—you see beyond the surface of this world to the deeper and truer things to come. When you write, you testify to His goodness, and in so doing, you come awake…and come alive.

And that is a gift your favorite distractions cannot offer.

Maybe someday, when my life on this earth is done, I'll learn why my words mattered. I can only hope.