F*** 'em. Write anyway.

Speaking on the phone the other day with a friend of mine, one of the few who knows all the ins and outs of my current novel-writing adventures, she asked me, "Is this going to become a series of books, once you're done with this one?"

The question took me aback, for more than one reason, and spawned enough introspection to justify a blog post. I mean, for years I was convinced I would never finish this story, and now that I'm SO close to its end, I felt the need to self-indulge in some writer-introspection.

We've all heard it, whether you're a writer or not:

"You're going to starve. Writers don't make anything."

"That's nice. I'm sure you'll do well." (Insert a stifled gag at the obvious patronizing.)

"You know, it's nearly impossible to get into writing now."

"I could never do something like that. That's...great."

The older I've gotten, and the more I've written, the more I've realized why this mentality bothers me so much. It's treating writing solely as a means to an end; a long life of drudgery and hardship solely for a payday.

Do most writers (who truly hold stock in their worth as creators) want to make it a career? Absolutely. But 99.9999% of the writers I know would balk at the idea that they are only writing for money.

What people don't understand is that the creative arts, such as art (painting, sculpture, drawing, modeling, etc.), music (whether vocal, instrumental, or synthetic, etc.), dance (ballet, modern, hip-hop, etc.)  and writing (fiction, nonfiction, etc.) are mediums that provide sustenance and solace in and of themselves, even when the creator doesn't have the consolation of a paycheck to justify the countless hours of bone-breaking effort put into their work.

But focusing specifically on writing, it becomes an even greater task to convince people that what we're doing is worthwhile. The occupation itself is almost always portrayed in one of two lights: either a pastime for the aloof, unreachable, (and most assuredly arrogant) literati snob who is at once both apart from society and enough engrossed in it to mock it, or a poor, depressed, alcoholic/addict soul who uses it as a means to escape the darkness or drudgery of their daily life.

And I'm here to say, people who view and/or describe writers this way are completely missing the point.

I've met both writers described above; more often than not they're the same person, only differing in that one is how they view themselves, and the other is how everyone else views them. But the point is THEY BOTH WRITE. They take the time to exert their energy, heart, and soul into something they (hopefully) believe in wholeheartedly, and are still petrified that it will be mocked and spat on once they go about sharing it with the world.

Writing lacks what so many of the other creative arts have, mainly that they are (at least eventually) aesthetically pleasing once they're completed. There's nothing like the finished colors on a masterpiece's canvas, or the twisting and spinning of a ballet dancer's limbs during a live performance. But writing gets the short end of the stick. Even when printed on pages to show the magnitude of work the writer put into it, all you see is a stack of paper. Admittedly neither aesthetically pleasing or very interesting to those who are not acquainted with writing or its study.

As it is, writing is already shown as a vampiric pastime, driving its creator to staying up all hours of the night, to spend days in nonsensical daydreaming, and to engage in fanatical discussions of fictional characters that would sound like a mental breakdown to anyone who didn't know its context.

These, of course, are all discussions of those who view writing from the outside, and don't understand its beauty, its life, its glorious madness, or its intoxication for those who do write, and find FAR more in it than a potential payday, or worse, a waste of time.

I suppose I only wanted to rant about writing today to tell people who don't write, you don't know what you're missing. It is the most incredible endeavor to go on. And to say to those who do write and fight those crippling words of supposed "good" intention, you write as much or as little as you want. You be that vampire writer, and don't let people's uneducated doubts get in the way of what is so utterly important: the word and its continuous use in the world. Payday or not, write your heart out. Let your creation speak for itself, to those who will actually want to listen, and appreciate it for what it is: your life's work.