Hello writers!
I’ve got a pretty serious case of Why Bother right now, as I contemplate giving up on this WIP, on my career, on writing in general. It’s hard being a writer and it’s only getting harder. The arts are under serious threat and most of us probably aren’t feeling especially secure lately. No one reads, no one has money for art, something something AI. So it’s hard not to think Why Bother. No one’s going to read it. It’ll never get published. It’ll probably get banned. It’ll just get fed to the slop machine anyway.
Why. Bother.
I’m here to tell you why! The people who still need art need it more than ever right now. Art still reaches people, helps them grow, changes minds. It’s impossible to predict what story will pull someone out of the pit of despair. We talk a lot in these parts about how your story matters, and that remains true!
It matters to your hypothetical future readers. But it matters to you, too. There’s a reason you set out at the start of this month to write something—to put something into the world that wasn’t there before. And that is beautiful. You are amazing!
So what made you start this project in the first place? Maybe you’re like me and you’re doing it out of spite. Or maybe you’re also like me and doing it because you just can’t not. Or maybe you’re also like me and the story just will not let you go. Whatever the reason is, it was there when you started, and I bet it’s still there, waiting for you to remember the spark of joy that made you think, “This is it, I’m going to write a novel!”
You’re tired and unmotivated and disillusioned and tight in the clutches of Why Bother. But that’s normal. My writing and publishing journey has been full of challenges that have made me throw my hands in the air and yell “That’s it, I quit!” This has happened too many times to count. Just ask my group chat.
But I’m still here, banging away at this keyboard even while the burnout fairy whispers Why Bother into my ear. Because there’s still something left I have to say. And I bet you do too. So hang in there, you beautiful soul, and remember why you started in the first place. Because that’s Why You Bother.
–Vanessa
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Vanessa Ricci-Thode (she/they) is the first self-published author to win a Nebula Award. She’s a Halloween enthusiast and a bookish geek who loves dragons, astronomy, and travel. If she’s not hibernating, she can be found in her butterfly garden, achieving her final form as a garden witch. Her self-published books are available everywhere except Amazon, and include her queer romantasy The Dragon Next Door, her award-winning The Young Necromancer’s Guide to Ghosts, and the completed Fireborn series. Her short story “Billionaire’s Tears” appears in Escape Pod and Year’s Best Canadian Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol 4 and was a WSFA Small Press Award finalist. She lives in Waterloo (no, the other one) with her spouse, daughter and very good dogs.