Today I was encouraged by post by my friend Mike Duran titled Your Reason to Keep Writing. This post came at a time where I was once again wrestling with the question, “Why I do I write?”
I struggle with this question at least once a month. I’m not wildly successful, at the top of the charts, or have thousands of reviews, the measurement stick of how the world would define my success as an author. So why put in all this effort, all this time, if the pay out for writing is peanuts?
But as I was talking to Dan this morning, I realized I write because I have stories burning inside my heart, stories about God. I have to write. If I didn’t, I think the words inside me would overflow.
I get discouraged sometimes, or afraid that I won’t finish the rough draft of my latest story, or secretly wonder if I would be more productive if I chose something else to fill my writing time, like a job. But I keep coming back to writing. Everytime.
I write the stories in my heart. I must. And when my story touches the heart of another, even better.
How about you? Why do you write? What keeps you going when you just want to give up?
Morgan L. Busse 
I write to get out the story my heart knows readers would be moved by. I write to inspire, to encourage, and to live for myself.
I love your answer 🙂
I feel exactly the same way. I have so much fire burning inside my heart and words flowing through my mind I can’t help but write it all down and share it with others. I don’t think God would put such a strong desire in us for no reason.
May God bless you in your writing journey and take you farther than you’ve ever dreamed of!
Thank you, Anna 🙂
Great post, Morgan… please keep writing & trusting in Him. The enemy will always be badgering you with discouragement, but keep surrendering to the stories the Lord keeps birthing in you.
Writing is a marathon. And encouragement from people is like that cup of water as you run by. Thanks for your encouraging words!
I started writing after the death of my son, Jesse. I continue to write stories that I believe he would want to read. He loved heroes!
What a wonderful way to remember your son. Keep on, my friend!
Thank you, Morgan.
From the time I was old enough to know how a pencil worked, I was writing stories. It’s always been a part of who God created me to be. I keep writing because success (to me) means using God’s awesome gift of words to encourage others or help someone else know God better than they did yesterday. Christ is the ultimate storyteller, and that’s who I want to be like.
I like how you share that we are emulating the ultimate storyteller, Jesus.
Everyone has a story to tell. Everyone. Yet few actually do it.
And then there are those who are meant to write. This is what they are supposed to do and they know it. How does one know what their heart’s true desire is? What they were designed to do? Because that desire is always the one thing that everything (and everyone) else tries to suppress. To question, to doubt.
John Eldredge writes in his books on this, about never stopping for your quest to discover your place, your gift, and and why so many have quit:
“The greatest human tradegy is simply to give up the search. There is nothing of greater importance than the life of our deep heart. To lose heart is to lose everything…
“The clue to who we really are and why we are here comes to us through our heart’s desire.”
And why so many are driven to write:
“Every story, great and small, shares the same essential structure because every story we tell borrows its power from a Larger Story, a Story woven in the fabric of our being…
“All of these stories borrow from the Story. From Reality. We hear echoes of it through our lives. Some secret written on our hearts. A great battle to fight, and someone to fight for us. An adventure, something that requires everything we have, something to be shared with those we love and need.
“There is a Story that we just can’t seem to escape. There is a Story written on the human heart.”
You found your story. Don’t let go of it.
Thank you. Writing is toughest thing I’ve ever done, apart from parenting. But I won’t give up 🙂
I’m struggling with this right now. Not so much why do I write, but why I want to write a novel. I’ve had several things published or accepted (children’s nature articles, devotions, adult take-home papers, greeting cards), but there is always that novel idea clinking in the back of my mind.
I keep asking myself why I want to write a novel. I’m terrible at plotting, and my characters are inconsistent and I never seem to get a great handle on them. I’ve been working very hard at these things, but wouldn’t it be easier to keep doing short things and play with my kids more? Yes. it would be easier. But then I wouldn’t be on this journey with God, letting Him work in me, teach me, and show me how inadequate I am without Him., but that with my dependence on Him, He can do great things through me.
I write that I can show others, and myself, that there is hope in this ugly world and that giving into fear paralyzes us from doing what He called us to do. That walking fearlessly down the narrow path, while it may be less taken and wanting wear, is the way to total victory in writing and in life.
(Thanks for this post. Writing this down totally solidified for me why I want to write a novel!)
Keep writing!
Very well said. There have been times where I’ve hit the same roadblock as you, but every time I do, I seek His guidance and am rewarded with the answer: I love writing and I can’t stop, no matter the rate of “success” I may or may not have. It’s in my blood, it’s part of who I am. And as long as I continue to trust in His almighty grace, I have all the success I’ll ever need.