There have been a lot of posts lately about publishing, and those posters seem to think that the only point of writing is publishing. Is that the case?

I seem to be in a different position than the rest of y'all for some reason - I just like writing, although it's hard work. My main goal is to write something to my satisfaction - once I've done that, any other external validation is just gravy. I like gravy, but it's not the object of the exercise for me.

If the entire publishing world disappeared overnight, and I could never do anything more with my stories than have a few people here read them, I think I'd just keep on going as I am.

However, it was the realization that other people were interested in those stories I thought up that first motivated me to write them down. It was the realization that complete strangers might read my stories that first motivated me to *finish* the damned things. My stories wouldn't be half as good as they are without the thought, there in the back of my head, that if I make 'em good enough other people will want to read them.

I'm an attention junkie - always have been. The Holy Grail of publication is what makes my writing an art, not a publication. Perhaps others are purer of heart than I, I don't know.

Besides that... getting published feels like, well, like a justification. It was only when I finished my first novel that I dared tell my family that, yes, I was still writing stuff, or tell my friends that I wrote; I didn't feel like a "real" writer until then. I still feel guilty about writing, feel like it's time for myself that I steal when I should be working or socializing or otherwise being a normal human. Publication is, I think, the justification I need to stop feeling guilty about it. Odd but true.

I have a problem with this attitude because I think that one of the main differences between a writer or even a real reader and the average nekulterny shaved ape is that the literate person judges texts on their own merits rather than what anyone else, even a publisher, thinks of that text, while others don't have that native judgement. So I would never put myself in the catagory of people that would stop writing if I knew I'd never be published. I would be much more likely to put myself in the catagory of writers that love to write but fear publication. I know that I've sometimes been inhibited in my writing by the notion that the public would get hold of my work.

On the other hand, there are two very powerful reasons to seek publication. The first has been mentioned already, if you care about something enough to write it, then don't you want to share that with an audience? And there is also the fact that, despite its failings (which are many), the publishing industry does have a lot of people that are really good writers. Why would you deny yourself association with them? Okay, that was a retorical question, let's not pursue the topic of what's wrong with the industry.

Let me put it this way. If I became famous for some reason (other than my writing), and publishers were fawning over me to write a book that would be a best seller because of my immense personal fame, I would rather cut my own arm off rather than be published in that way (my left arm, though, not my right). But I wouldn't want to stop writing, any more than I'd want to stop reading.

I love reading. I love writing. I especially love reading my own writing. I'd be willing to publish if I thought that other people would also love to read my writing. I don't think of that as frosting, though, since I'd also like to help someone else publish if I felt that people would love that person's writing. Good writing is worth sharing, even if I'm not the one that wrote it, right?

I've had conversations with people who've told me that some of my work is "too commercial" and that they'd "never compromise their art." I usually find that those people have full-time jobs and write mainly as a hobby. Now I'm not saying that a hobbyist isn't a writer. If you write then you are a writer. But to those people who tell me that I think too much about getting published and too little about the quality of my work? I usually advise trying making a living with your high art, and see how soon you're using your manuscripts to line your clothes for warmth.

Sorry if I sound tense. It always bugs me when "artists" talk about the publishing minded writer as if he were the bastard child of the writing world.

Also, this post is NOT directed at anyone in particular. It's just my two cents.

Josh Leone

That just isn't the part of writing that I'm obsessed with, and I'm curious about how other people's minds work.

Sorry if anything I said made you defensive, josh.

As I said, my comments weren’t pointed at anyone in particular. In fact I’ve found this board to be very supportive of the career writer. Mine were just general comments meant to express an over all opinion. I took no offense from your posting and in fact you do make a good point. I also believe that one should first have the love of writing for its own sake and only then pursue an actual career in it. Writing is not a get rich quick scheme. Believe me, I know.

Sorry if it came off as though I was swinging at you. I wasn’t.

One life one chance, if you spend that chance slaving away at something you hate and never never try to pursue a lifestyle that you would like then you are fully responsible for the wasted life.

Writers are dreamers and for most of us being placed in a dreamless work enviroment of drudgery and meaninglessness for 60% of our lives is hell. Writing lets us create beautiful worlds- but publishing lets us move from the robotic hells so many of us live. I don't know about you but I HAVE to work a ful time job in engineering. I hate engineering. I hate the corporate environment. I hate not being able to express myself for the majority of the day. But when I write, draw or edit and people want my stories then I realize I have a voice. I am able to gain something of my humanity that has been stripped by a cold work environment. I work for a company that if I tracked the chain of command then I have nearly fifty levels of bueracracy to climb. They have offices in every state and every civilized country in the world. And what one thing does every employee I have ever spoken at this company have in common?

Hopelessness, depression, low morale, and no dreams. Personal expression is frowned upon.

I am not looking to become the next best seller, I am looking to develope my career so that I can work from home late at night after the kids are asleep, so I can see my kids grow, actually know my wife, and live WITH my family.

Am I crazy for believing this? Yes. Is it impossible? no. Is it difficult? Very difficult.

Would I write and tell stories even if I wouldn't be published? Yes.

But I love conceiving and designing things; creating 3D models on a computer that eventually get turned into real life parts is quite satisfying. It's definitely an "I made this!" thing -- a lot like writing is for me. The two are similar.

Moreover, I'm a musician, and I love writing songs. So, thinking about it now, I suppose I like the idea "creating" new things. Maybe that's why I do what I do...

1. I love to tell stories/write (depending upon my age and whether or not I knew how to write yet).

2. I have to be the best.

Then I pick up my pen again (mouse, actually) and go on to Middle School, then High School, then College, then Master's study, then that PhD.

Right now I figure I'm in High School. I'll enter college when I sell a story to a big market. I'll enter my Master's studies when I sell my first novel.

And how will I know I've earned that PhD? When I can write a novel without the help of all my favorite Hatrackers.

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And how will I know I've earned that PhD? When I can write a novel without the help of all my favorite Hatrackers.

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Every author needs readers before they send off their manuscript. OSC has his wife, for one, and probably a few more. Stephen King has a couple of friends and his wife read his. We'll always need someone to point out the obvious things we've missed. So, don't forget your fellow hatrackers... Maybe you won't be posting here, but I hope that you'll keep in touch with some of us, Dakota.

"What is it about publishing that is so magical for some people?"

Well... there's always the money part... I'm not gonna lye and say that I don't enjoy the idea of getting piles of green stuff for doing what I always got in trouble for in school (day dreaming).

Then there's just recognition... if feels good to get a few pats on the back from a hand full of friends and family, but it just feels a little extra special to get an international-sized pat on the back from people you don't know from places you never even heard of.

But then... I don't write for only publication, some I write as just "practice" runs, others I write for just personal pleasure that I know from the start no one, but maybe my girl friend or whoever will ever get the chance to read. Like for instance, the single issued comic book I did (I would have been 2, but my computer crashed with really bad timing... so, it's only 1)... or any of my poems.

Besides, I looked at some of the published stuff, decided I could do better than that, and well, here I am-- still trying.

First indulge me by reading this brief anecdotal thing:

Remember when you were a young child, perhaps 8 or 9, before you knew anything about life and work; before you grew up and became who you now are. Then, your schoolteacher used to read stories out loud to the class, and maybe the class participated in reading that story. Do you recall how excited you were to read or listen to that story? Was there a better time in your life? Probably not.

Now, imagine if those stories that enthralled you never got published. (I'd hate to think about what life would be like not growing up with "Charlotte's Web.") Life, then, would have been rather sad for many of us. Others would not have cared a whit, I suppose. Nevertheless, those stories captured our imaginations in a way that no other medium has ever done, or ever will do (arguably, I concede).

Right then. Got that in your heads? Good.

You know what publishing is all about? It's returning the favor to the next generation of kids and adults. It's trying to excite someone's imagination like perhaps yours was excited. Maybe it's altruistic, and maybe it's self-centered, but your goal probably remains the same -- to inspire, to entertain, and to provide some small measure of joy for someone that may not have a lot of joy in their life.

That's a bit tough to do without getting your story published. Yeah, you can do it with a small group: family, friends. But they're going to read it anyway because they're your friends and family. No, what you want is to get that person you've never met and make them laugh, cry, think... imagine.

That's publishing. And if it ain't that for you, fine. But that's what it is for me.

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You know what publishing is all about? It's returning the favor to the next generation of kids and adults.

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I want to get something published because I don't feel like a pile of paper (or a floppy, or a CD) is a tangible proof that I did anything, owing probably to the Protestant Work Ethic (or some variation thereof). The one ambition that I have always been firm on is that I want an object to hold in my hands that I can shove at all the people (teachers, guidance counselors, well-meaning but stupid friends) that have told me I am wasting my life even with writing as just a hobby. Which falls into the "insecurity" and "validation" columns both, in case anyone's keeping track. (I'd like "Emotional Hangups" for 100, Alex.)

On a more rational note, I've always looked at getting published as a "why not?" thing. I've done a lot of stuff that was meant for no one but me and my friends, and stuff I was hoping that someone, somewhere, would like to read.

Look at blogs. Look at the well-established tradition of fanfic. Heck, look around at work. Somebody you know is telling someone a story nearly all the time (I had a boss last year who liked cornering people in the break room and launch into irrelevant fifteen minute stories about fishing, cars, or camping, which never seemed to go anywhere or have any point). I'm not trying to sidetrack the argument, just point out that people have a need to communicate and find an audience, and most likely always have. Getting published (despite the likelihood of rejection, exploitation, or whatever) is just taking that need a step further. Even litfic writers have an audience (a small one, and inbred, but an audience) that they may come to depend on.

I've moved to an entirely new level recently, with the realization that I actually really truly DO want to be published now.

It's a new ballgame, and I'm thrilled with the process because it's amped up my game a hundred fold. Suddenly I'm viewing my work with a far more critical eye. What makes sense? How can I tighten the story? How can I make my story more powerful using fewer words? Do other people relate to what I have to say?

I would say that my new desire to be published is adding polish to my work, and a new level of professionalism. And that is a good thing. It's almost as if writing for publication is the difference between playing ball in school and going into the majors... sure, it's the same game, but there are more expectations and potentially greater rewards.

Okay, when I was late teens, I wanted to be published. Then a few years later I realized that I didn't really care. But I guess some events that have happened in the last 14 months have caused me to rethink this.

But this recent transition resulted from something I wrote just for the heck of it. So I am definitely with the "writing as therapy" idea.

I watched an episode of Frontline a couple of weeks ago called "the persuaders". http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/persuaders/etc/shaping.html

This is true in all art forms, music, etc.

This doesnt mean that commercial work is necessarily compromised for the success that they gain. In fact you may find that commercial successes are often more out-there, more edgy than a lot of underground stuff.