Why Mimi Writes

Right, um, blogging. Consistency isn't a strong point with me (duh it's been almost a year) so... sorry about that. But I'm going to give it another shot! With more of a focus on writing and the random wise stuff I seem to come up with late at night.

Anyway, I would like to spend my time now talking about a revelation I had a week ago or so. Let me start with the backstory. So, I have a Wattpad, as you readers probably know, and I was trying to get some people to read/critique my work (apparently I did it wrong and some grumpy admin tried to help me and it was a huge mess and I had to be nice to lots of annoying people which is never fun but anyway the point is) and as I was sitting there unhappily, looking at how much my views had dropped (consistency probs again), I asked myself a question.

"Self," I said in my head, "Why do you write?" Huh. Interesting question. Am I writing for the people that read my work? Am I writing to receive compliments? Am I writing to get famous? Am I writing to kill time? Am I writing because I am forced to do so? Am I writing because I want to make other people happy (or cry, depending on the scene)? Essentially, was I writing so that I felt good because of other people's opinions.

"No, actually," I realized, kind of surprised and a little confused. Why else would I write, then? If not other people, them for whom do I write? Then it hit me. I write because I like it. I think it's fun. I enjoy writing fiction. It works my creativity and planning and I get to relax with character friends.
My personality tends to be based on what others want: what makes my friends happy, what my family wants me to do, you get the idea. But writing, I realized, is probably one of the few things that I do for me. I don't write for fame or popularity or attention or compliments or my friends or my family or anything else! I write for ME, for Mimi, because it makes me happy.

And although some of you may be sitting there go "Duh, ya idjit, why else would you do anything if not to make you happy?" this revelation really changed my outlook. Now instead of, "I need finish this update so I can keep my readers!" it's "I want to finish this part so I keep writing the next part!" My entire attitude changed, and now, I'm a lot happier. I'm doing this for me, and I accept that it's okay to do something just for me, and that feels really good. We all need some 'me' time (even if 'me' is actually multiple personalities with elaborate backstories and fantastical powers).

So I thought I'd close this out with a question for you. Why do you write? Is it for view counts? Positive feedback? Or do you write because you love it?

Food for thought.

This has been Writing with Mimi (Or at Least Trying to). Mimi's Wattpad account is Mimi_Writes. If you'd like to comment, then please do, because Mimi would probably be really happy to know that you read her blog. Today's Awesome Thing: The word pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis (a type of lung disease).