Who says?

All my life I've been told that my creative pursuits were a waste of time. Some years later and I have edited for a couple different publications, published a collection of short stories, and have a few projects in the works - either through school that I'm continuing or my own personal projects. Why did I continue when so many people were telling me to give up? That's a pretty good question, right? We creatives ask ourselves similar questions all the time. It's a rough industry. The competition is fierce, especially now with easy access to publishing.

I recently published my first collection of stories through www.Smashwords.com. with the help of Full Sail University instructors and classes. I am proud of how it turned out, but I don't expect to make millions off it. I don't even expect to make hundreds off of it any time soon, if ever. Realistically speaking, writers don't make enough to really support themselves. There are exceptions, of course, but not everyone is going to make it to that level, so why do we do it?

Why do I do it? Because it's all I know. When I was young, books were the only thing that made sense to me. They were my escape. I wasn't a social butterfly and I was (and still am) awkward. Reading chapter books in Kindergarten didn't help matters.

After having read so many books, I began to write stories when I was around nine. Little things that happened for school, but by the time I was in seventh grade, I had multiple classmates wanting to read my work and know what happened next with my characters. I think that's when it really clicked that this was what I wanted in life. I wanted to create worlds for people to live in. I wanted to create characters people could relate to on a new level. Real people, almost.

I tried other pursuits that might be more fruitful, but writing is at my core. And that's what matters. If you can't go through a day without characters speaking to you, words flowing, or needing a story - you're a writer.