It's a simple question, at least on the surface. What drives you as a writer? There's no right or wrong answer. At the end of the day, everyone writes for different reasons: enjoyment, money, fame, talent, passion for the arts, having a story to tell, an admiration for and aspiration to be like other great artists. The list goes on. I think that I personally write for some combination of all of those reasons. I enjoy writing. I would love to make money doing it and have my stories become beloved for generations to come. I have stories to tell, and I want to be like the great artists I learned about in school. My advice to you is to ask yourself that simple question: why do I write? Then just think about your answer. Use that as your guide when it comes to writing. Remember what it is that drives you every time you struggle, or even just whenever you want to write. And if there's a certain author you particularly look up to, use that author as a guiding light. I'm not saying to deify or idolize that writer, simply find and author you admire and use that person as inspiration. Writing is a journey. Remember that. Sometimes it's slow and painful. You won't always see the results you want to see at first. That's totally fine. Just keep trying, and eventually something will work out one way or another. One of my favorite examples is H.P. Lovecraft. He died believing himself to be a failure. But today, his fiction is immensely popular and influential. Success isn't linear. That statement is applicable to all areas of life, but it's especially applicable here. Keep writing. One day you'll look up and realize you did it. But the only way to get there is to start writing now, and always remember why it is you do it.

It's such a simple question, yet actually sitting down to write can be paralyzing. That's the quandary I wanted to tackle this week in #Chapter 7: How Do I Write Now? Check it out, and let me know what you think.

Hello everyone, I'm taking a little break from my usually scheduled weekly writing motivation to instead ask you all what kind of content do you want to see? What do you struggle with when writing? Do you want more concrete writing tips, like how to write dialogue? Are there writing behaviors you're having a hard time breaking or developing? Tell me in the comments what it is you want to see from me. You're in a special position where you can directly shape the content I upload, and have your exact questions about writing answered. So, what do you need help with?

Hello writers, I just uploaded a new chapter to "Writing the Piano: A Beginner's Guide to Writing," one of the courses that can be found in the classroom. In it, I talk about what it means to give yourself grace as a writer, and not beat yourself up when you make mistakes writing. You're not always going to have a perfect writing session, and that's fine. You should never feel like a session was wasted because you will always have gotten something done, learned something new about your story, and added things that wouldn't be there had you done nothing. Check out the course page for more!

I pride myself on being productive and using my time well. I think that I do a good job managing my free time and getting things done. Unfortunately, that can also create a feedback loop of feeling like I need to use all my down time to get something done. Do you feel this way too? Do you ever make yourself artificially busy or fixate on the things you could do when that's not actually what you need to do? Share your thoughts and experiences. I want to hear about it. I talk about this a little more in the newest chapter of Writing the Piano, but it's a pretty short chapter this time around. I think I'll expand on this idea of productivity, and I would love to hear about how everyone here navigates it so I can respond to and incorporate some of those thoughts into the next resource.