Why Write?

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve had unsolicited advice from a couple of sources suggesting that my writing expectations are off.  Aim low, they advise, and even then don’t expect much.  That I already understand.  It’s the next bit of advice that gets to me:

Don’t write what you want to write.  Write what sells.  

One way they suggest doing this is to become a ghost writer.  People who have the profile to sell books but who can’t write often want someone with talent to tell their story and give them the credit.  It is accepted wisdom that this is a standard way to break into writing.

I don’t doubt that they’re right.  Nobody’s heard of K. Marvin Bruce—he’s never been a major athlete, political figure, or entertainer.  Why should they care what he has to say?  (Never mind the creative part, or even the fact that he’s a nice guy.)  Someone with billions of dollars we care about.  We want their story.

I’m friends with a successful writer.  He said, “Never compromise.”  He never wrote what someone else wanted him to write, and he got on the New York Times Bestseller list on his own terms.

One of those who was giving me advice offered to introduce me to a classmate I’d never met in college.  This classmate had a successful career, but wanted to write.  All it took was one contract and soon she was making a living doing what she loved.

Such contradictory advice!  I know that people now famous (H. P. Lovecraft comes to mind) did ghost writing to keep going.  In fact, he ghost wrote a story for Harry Houdini, infamous for his debunking of the supernatural.  (Lovecraft was, for all his gods, an atheist as well.)

The fact is I do have a job.  It’s not really what I want to be doing with my life, and my writing is an expression of who I really am.  Do I want to set this aside to have someone well-known tell their tale with my words?  I’m not so sure.

I am a writer, whether published or not.  Although to date no agent has shown the slightest hint of interest in my work, I won’t give up.  I do not plan to exchange my voice for that of a ghost.