Is writing worth it?
If you’ve been working on your book for a long time, or maybe you’ve written and published several books already, you’re probably starting to wonder if all the time and effort you’re putting into this thing called the writing life is actually worth it.
Most of us start this journey believing that writing will change something for us. Maybe we think it’ll change our careers, give us financial freedom, or change how other people see us—especially people who matter to us. Sometimes we may even wonder if writing might change how we see ourselves.
But here’s a hard truth: whether your writing is worth it depends on one really important thing you might not have considered: what you expect your writing to give you?
Why Writers Ask, “Is This Writing Worth It?”
If you’ve ever stared at your manuscript and thought, What am I even doing? Or maybe you’ve stared at your book list and wondered the same thing—that doesn’t mean you’re crazy. Most writers have asked this question at some point.
Maybe you’ve finished a book. Maybe you’ve finished several books, which in anybody else’s estimation would be a big deal. But for you, you may feel like you have nothing to show for it.
This is when you experience a shift in your writing life. It’s not just about this book anymore, or about these books that you’ve put out. It starts to become more than that because now it’s about your time, your purpose, and your satisfaction in life.
That’s what makes this question so heavy. Because when you ask, “Is all this writing worth it?” what you’re really asking is: will the writing ever give me what I was hoping for? And then there’s a secondary question to that: if not, do I want to keep doing it?
What Do You Really Expect Writing to Give You?
Before you can know if writing is worth it in your life, you have to get clear on what you expect it to do for you.
We all want something from writing, even if we pretend that we don’t. For some people, that may be self-expression or escape. But for other people, it may be financial returns or validation.
Maybe you’re hoping your book will win awards, land a traditional publishing contract, or be recognized out in the literary world. None of these desires is wrong. They can be very motivating, actually.
But the trouble starts when your goals don’t match up with the daily activities that you’re doing.
The Money Question: Is Writing Worth It Financially?
Here’s something important to consider: you may have been avoiding the fact that writing simply isn’t the best path to bring you what you were hoping for.
If what you really want, for example, is financial freedom, any writer will tell you that there are a lot of easier ways to get that. Writing and publishing books is a long game.
Can you eventually be financially successful? You can be if you go about it the right way and your goals are lined up with that desire. But if you’re just writing for self-expression, you can’t expect that financial freedom is going to follow the publication of one book.
Financial success comes from matching your type of story to the type of stories that a lot of people are going to want to read. That means certain genres are going to be more likely to bring you financial success than other genres. Literary fiction doesn’t sell as well as genre fiction—that’s well known.
So you may enjoy the validation of a traditional contract for a more literary book, but you can’t expect financial freedom from that. We have to be able to line up our expectations with what we’re doing to see if writing really can bring us that.
My Own Answer to “Is Writing Worth It?”
Writing can bring us many things. I made the decision a while back to be a writer no matter what because of those things. But those things are not typically wealth or fame.
Those things are self-expression and the joy of getting lost in a story and living the writing life—which often means researching and learning things I didn’t know before, or being able to travel to research a novel and coming across things that just blow my mind.
There are so many things in writing that have brought me joy and purpose that I wouldn’t give it up now. But we have to be honest and not expect that writing is going to give us something that it just can’t give us, because then we can end up disappointed.
Three Questions to Answer: “Is Writing Worth It for Me?”
If you’re struggling with this issue in your writing life, ask yourself a couple of honest questions and then take your time to reflect on them.
The first question is: “What do I really want writing to give me that I don’t already have?”
Be honest—no one’s going to see this but you. Maybe it was a sense of purpose, but maybe it was money, recognition, and fame. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with that. A lot of people kind of hope for that. Get that down. What were you hoping writing would bring you?
And whatever it is, don’t edit it. Don’t critique it. Just put it down, so it’s there in front of you. It’s important that we bring this to our awareness so that we can then proceed to create a foundation that’s going to help us move on.
Question 2: What Would Actually Change If I Got Everything?
Here’s the next question you want to ask yourself: “If I got everything I’m hoping for, what would actually change?”
This is an important one. Would you feel more secure? Would you feel more confident about your worth? Would you stop comparing yourself to other writers? Maybe you would finally feel free to sit back and call yourself a real writer?
Sometimes, the thing we think writing success will bring us isn’t about writing at all. It’s about who we hope to become once we “make it.” And this is really a key discovery.
If you can figure out what you think writing is going to bring you that maybe isn’t about writing at all—maybe it’s about self-worth, confidence, or freedom—then you can realize that it’s kind of silly to ask writing for these things. Writing can’t necessarily help you feel more worthwhile as a person, for example, or it can’t typically give you more freedom in life.
These are things that we decide internally. I can practice feeling that I am worthy, that I can be a real writer, that I am a creative person, that I am an artist. These are things that we develop within ourselves. We can’t expect that simply writing and publishing a book—or multiple books—will do that for us.
Question 3: Would I Still Write If I Never Got What I Hoped For?
The last question is very, very important: “If you never get those things that you hoped writing would bring you, would you still write?”
And that is the key. That’s where you find out whether writing is worth it or not.
First, you write down what you hoped writing would give you, and you’re honest about that. Then you examine: “If I get all those things, are those really about writing at all?” And then you circle back and say, “What if I never get any of those things? Do I still want to write?”
That was the question I came to in my career that was so helpful because I had to wrestle with it. And for a while I thought, You know what? Maybe not. Maybe I’ll stop writing.
And if you come to that conclusion, that is entirely valid. Please do not shy away from that because that is a really good thing to consider. I think all of us writers need to be serious about that.
Is Writing Worth It? The Answer May Surprise You
Perhaps you realistically consider walking away from this writing life—or maybe you actually walk away for a while.
Go with it. See what happens. Let yourself go through the process of maybe this isn’t it.
I went through this. I thought, I’m just done with this. I’m tired of this. I walked away, and you know, two weeks later I’m back writing my story. So I’m kind of sunk. And I think a lot of us writers come to this place. We realize that it is about the writing. It actually is.
But we have to go through that process before we can discover that for sure.
Once I went through that and decided I was in it for the long haul based on writing and what writing gives me, I was much more at peace.
Now, no matter what happens with my projects, I’m at peace, because I know I’m a writer. I find meaning and purpose in my life through writing. I find joy in writing. And I’m okay with whatever else happens.
That sense of peace is really nice because for many, many years, I didn’t have that.
Your Turn: Is Writing Worth It for You?
This week, take a little time to sit down with these questions. Write down your answers. Journal about it for a while. Give yourself a few days to think about it and be willing to allow some uncomfortable emotions to come up. They’re normal.
Then see what kind of answer you come back with. If that answer is, “I’m here for the writing,” write down what you get from writing that only writing can give you even without all the outside rewards. Write that down, because that is your why for writing, and that can guide you through the ups and downs.
If you decide to walk away, don’t stop yourself. Just do it and see what happens. Journal about how you feel about it. Give it a test. See if writing calls you back or not. And either way, it’s okay.
Every honest look at your writing life brings you closer to the kind of life that actually fits who you are and where you want to go. And finding that is worth the struggle of the moment.
Image by benzoix on Freepik.