Can This Toxic Question Please Just Go Away?
The writing debate that really needs to die. Please.
Photo by Sam Truong Danon Unsplash
There’s a debate that anyone who has spent any amount of time thinking about being a writer has come across. (I’m going to go out on a ledge an say anyone who has thought about being any sort of artist has come up against this debate.)
Should we write because we must or should we write for money?
The must side is so earnest. Writers who insist that they write because they have no choice. It’s write or perish. And having readers is incidental. Money actually diminishes their must-ness.
The write for money side can be cold. They never write for free. They only write to their market. They hustle out work with shocking speed. They have the bottom line in mind at all times and being paid what they’re worth is the most important thing.