What Drives a Writer?

Mare Ball @ ADVENTURES IN THE BALLPARK

I wrote an e-book last year that was published in July. It has not made me a millionaire, but I'm OK with that. I just wanted to get the message out there. I felt a great sense of accomplishment, and then moved on to other things.

Recently, my e-book was invited to be part of THE ULTIMATE HOMEMAKING BUNDLE, which was released this past Wednesday. The BUNDLE is only on sale for one week, so I've been scrambling since Wednesday to post BUNDLE info on all my social media sites, write new copy for the blog (for the week) and review all 70 e-books in the BUNDLE, so I can write about them intelligently. All I ate yesterday was a banana and some leftover carrots.

When I'm in the thick of writing like this, I get so weary and wonder if it's worth it. My back aches, and my thighs are spreading by the minute because I'm in this chair for hours on end. I've not climbed into bed before midnight all this week. The promotion for this BUNDLE ends May 2, so the end is in short site, but I'm really pooped.

This is when I really admire writers who write for a living, every day. How do they do it?

Writing is hard, and it always saddens me a bit when I finish reading a book in two days that the author probably spent a year writing!  Doesn't seem like a fair exchange, does it?

I spent about four years writing my e-book, The 12 Days of Christmas Adventure, only because I didn't work on it every day, and it has over 200 photos in it, which needed editing.  Readers can read it in about an hour (it's about a holiday project for families.)  Add in all the writing I ended up taking out of my final draft, it seems like it took me 20 years to write the thing.

That's why I think people don't write unless they really love it. I can't not write, I've often said, even though that's a terrible double negative for a writer to write. If I haven't written a blog post in over a week, I get a bit twitchy. It's in the gut. It's in the soul.

So, in spite of my fatigue and terrible diet this week, I'm plugging away. Because that's what writers do.

If any of you homemakers want to check out THE ULTIMATE HOMEMAKING BUNDLE, click AWESOME RESOURCE FOR MOMS! This will take you to my blog post where I write about it.