Am I Writing for You or Am I Writing for Me?
The short answer is YES
Writing is as essential to me as breathing. Once I begin to put my thoughts down, my attention tends to hold to this one place, and the rest of the world fades away.
It doesn’t matter if I am working on fiction or nonfiction, writing is my heart and soul. When I finally sat down and looked to discover what I most desire to do with my life, only one answer consistently came up: Write.
From here, of course, I would be thrilled to move to public speaking and discussing conscious reality creation, positivity, and mindfulness to help people with their own journeys. I would love to go on a book-signing tour. It would be incredible to see one of my works of fiction become a movie or TV series.
This does raise a question that I know other writers contend with. Am I writing for you or am I writing for me? Who benefits from the words I put to page or screen?
I am writing for both you and me. But I want to examine this closer, because I think this might be a benefit both for me and other writers who sometimes struggle with this.
What’s the struggle?
Let me just cut to the chase with this part. The struggle is a question of commercial appeal and profitability, to some degree. Arguments get made in regards to the idea of true artistry versus selling out. Some see writing for me as artistry and writing for you as selling out, and being two totally different coins, rather than two sides of a single coin.
Writing is artistry. This is my art, this is where I declare that I am an artist, and my words may or may not impact you in some way. But I am going to put them out there because I believe in their value.
What does it mean to be a sell-out?
My definition of selling out requires a little explanation. First, being able to make a living wage as a writer is NOT selling out. Why shouldn’t you and I be able to make money doing what we love? Why does society so readily accept that the process of making money should be loathsome, unpleasant, and not-at-all fun?
Second, selling out is not me writing for you rather than for me. The difference in these concepts is subtle, and I will cover that further ahead. But selling out, really selling out, by my definition, involves not being true to yourself.
For example – if I was offered an unbelievable wage to write for an alt-right publication or the Trump Administration – and I took it – that would be selling out. Why? Because I would be writing, sure, but I would be writing for something I consider wrong, lacking in kindness and human decency, and to a large degree, frankly, evil.
If you write for money about a topic that makes your skin crawl, repulses you, or otherwise makes you feel unclean, that is the definition of selling out. Making money as any kind of artist is not selling out unless you are forgoing your own morality and principles in the process.
So what’s the difference between writing for me and writing for you?
Writing for me
There are ideas, concepts, philosophical musings, and fantastical worlds of sci-fi, fantasy, and Steampunk, floating around my head. I love bringing them to life and shaping them from abstract to cohesion. Making the characters and situations and worlds they occupy real by putting them to the page just feels like fulfilling my purpose for being here.
The notions of conscious reality creation, mindfulness, energy work, positivity, personal philosophy, and the other inspirational/motivational self-helpery are an amalgam of my own research, study, experience, and continued evolution. So, so much exists in my head that I just need to put it to screen or paper. Doing so brings it forward from my subconscious to my conscious mind, opening my awareness so that I can continue to grow, evolve, and change.
Writing for me is therapy. It is meditative. When I write I feel most complete, whole, and worthwhile. Once I resolved my inner struggle with my works of fiction and non-fiction, the flow and energy increased, and opened further.
Maybe I am not yet earning as much as I desire to, but I also know that’s on me because I am still removing the blocks to earning money that I have placed in my deep subconscious. Yet I have never felt happier with a job than I have writing every single day over the past four or five months.
Writing for you
Once I put the words down on the page or screen, it may be for me – but I believe in them having enough value to be shared.
The things I write I think could be of value to you. Whether it is something like this where I am examining my writing process, or discussing conscious reality creation or the philosophy of Pathwalking, or my fantasy world of swords and sorcery, I believe you may get something out of it.
What do you get? I don’t know the specifics because I cannot get into your head. Maybe you get insight into a problem you are having; perhaps you see something that resonates with you and helps you tackle an issue or advance your life experience; something I have written could be inspiring to you; maybe my fiction provides you with an escape to a fantastical world that you enjoy.
When I write for you I hope that you enjoy reading my work as much as I enjoyed writing it. Agree or disagree with me, if I provide you with any assistance, inspiration, motivation, enjoyment, or any other positive experience that makes me feel great. Anything I can do to help you fulfills part of what I believe is my greater purpose for being here.
Is that a little much? Tough, it’s what I believe, and maybe it’s overly optimistic, but if you have been reading ANY of my work, you know that’s how I roll.
Writing for me is writing for you
When all is written and done, for the most part, I am writing what I write both for me and for you. Most of what I write just for myself I will not share, but anything and everything else I find to be for everyone.
I love writing. For me this is my happy place, this is what brings me the most joy in my life. That’s why I believe in the value and worth of my work, whatever form it takes. I write for me and I write for you.
For a long time, I have struggled with questions of my self-worth, value, and whether I deserve to have a career as a writer. Over the course of my life, I believed for too long that making a living as a writer was impossible and that artists with integrity should be starving.
Now I have come to see both these notions as total bullshit. I am learning that I am deserving and worthy of making this life be what I desire for it to be.
I write for you when I write for me. That is the long and short of it. I hope that I can continue to support you on your journey and that together we can work to make this world a better place by being the best version of ourselves that we can be.
Thank you for reading these words I have written for me and for you, as well as for taking part in my ongoing journey.
Thank you for joining me.
Please take a moment to explore the rest of the website, which I am working to evolve and change for the better…much like I am doing for myself. Also, visit Awareness for
This is the twenty-ninth entry of my personal writing blog. Please take a moment to check out the collection of my published writing, which can be found here.
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