The Insecure Writer’s Support Group meets monthly, online, to support you: a writer. You can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Sign up by clicking here.

This month we owe our co-hosting thanks to Jemi Fraser, Kim Lajevardi, L.G Keltner, Tyrean Martinson, and Rachna Chhabria! Don’t hesitate to stop by and tell them what a great job they’re doing.

We’re also dipping our toes into the deep end this month with the question: Albert Camus once said, “The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Flannery O’Conner said, “I write to discover what I know.”  Authors across time and distance have had many reasons to write. Why do you write what you write?

Now, I don’t know about keeping civilization from destroying itself. This seems like a very tall order for any writer and honestly very intimidating. I write romance, okay. The civilization saving aspects of romance are quite few, although we do have plenty of marriage, relationship, & healthy attitude about sex saving bits. Also my reason(s) for writing change nearly every day. Sometimes from minute to minute. I’ll do my best to pin the fog of my thoughts to a tree for you, though, and list some of my reasoning here.

I write what I write because:

  • I enjoy writing, although sometimes ‘enjoy’ translates as ‘bitterly detest’.
  • Romance is a genre which has meant a lot to me, personally, and I would love to give someone else that feeling of ‘it’s me! Those are my exact problems! But in a BOOK’. It’s a pretty amazing feeling of belonging.
  • I’ve been the type to disappear into daydreams my whole life. Writing is my attempt to exorcise the haunting daydreams and bleed their little bodies dry as black ink onto pale paper.
  • It only works about half the time. Daydreams are persistent poltergeists.
  • If I was in charge of the universe, I would hand out happily ever afters to everyone. No matter what that ‘happy ending’ looked like, if it involved a romance or decidedly did not, I would make sure all humans had their personal movie script happy ending. EVERYONE. NO ONE WOULD BE SAFE FROM MY POWER.
  • Since I can’t hand out happy endings like candy, I write them instead. Then readers can pick up my book if the plot calls to them, slip into the world for a little while, experience someone else’s love story, and kind of squiggle their way into a happy ending by osmosis. It works.
  • A good, fluffy, fun read is great escapism. I am all in favor of escapism. Has anyone looked around lately? We could all use a quick side-door out of 2020 for a short break, and I aim to provide that break.
  • Romance is female-centered, femme-power, affirming, emotional, strong writing and I am proud to be a part of this very eclectic genre.
  • I do not hear old-fashioned attitudes about ‘unrealistic bodice-ripper trash’ and will, in fact, direct you towards many well written articles, studies, and thoughts about why this attitude is not only outdated but incorrect.
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