Creativity

You’re The Customer

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Over at his blog, Serdar discusses how people figure out what to write.  Exploring what we want to write creates more satisfying works for the audience and the writer.  It’s not always a comfortable process, and I’d like to increase the discomfort.

Who decides the value of your writing career?  That’s important to know since you need to target your writing and efforts towards that person or people.  You can read books and take training on determining customer value (I could probably dig some up for you as that’s part of Agile).  Difficult question, right?

I’ll give you the answer – the person who decides the value of your writing career is you.  Your first customer is you.

That’s not a twee answer.  You’re the one putting your time, life, and money into writing and you should get what you want from the effort.  If you’re not getting it, you should change how and what you’re writing.

Too many people get into writing with a set of vague ideas, goals, and motivations.  This gets you going but isn’t always enough to complete a work, and not enough to keep going.  Too many writers I know have a vague sense of goals, but not enough to bring their writing career to life.

I can understand why people have these ephemeral senses of what they want because self-exploration is painful.  We discover flaws in our character, gaps in our skill, and unpleasant truths we’ve avoided up to now.  If you think asking “what do I want out of writing?” sounds like therapy, I can tell you sometimes it can be awful close.

Asking this question also opens the terrifying possibility that we shouldn’t be writing.  But it’s better to find out that’s the case than wasting time on something that you get nothing out of.  Take comfort though, I doubt you’d be reading this if you didn’t have some real reason to write.

My own motivations varied throughout my career until I realized I’m motivated by writing and sharing knowledge and experience.  I like to reach people – which I do via writing but also speaking and hanging with fellow writers.  I could have saved myself a lot of time if I’d realized that first.

So go talk to some fellow writers.  Talk to a therapist.  Talk to me. Spend some time driving and get to know yourself as a writer.  It’ll be worth it (and you’ll be better at writing).

Steven Savage

Unborn Authors

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Once I had a few books out, I realized how easy it is to publish (well, self-publish). I began speaking about it, advising, and helping out in writer’s groups. So many people want to write and I wanted to help!

Then I realized that many people say they want to publish books (or say they do), but the books rarely materialize. It’s frustrating to watch talent and enthusiasm never pay off, even when there are moments people do get their book out. Somehow the successes don’t reduce the pain of seeing the failures.

My fellow authors and I commiserate about this. There’s a pain that comes with seeing people like us not realize what we have. There’s an unpleasant mix of empathy, disbelief, and frustration that tugs at us.

We share stories about it, trying to understand how we might help. The person who sees writing as a path to wealth but doesn’t understand how writing usually pays the bills. The author who can’t push the button. The writer who can’t start, and the other who can’t finish.

We talk about them but rarely do we find solutions. The pain stays with us because these authors are us, and there are things to tell. You can sense that book waiting to be born in someone.

I’ve realized it’s not the book being born that’s the problem. The problem is the person hasn’t yet been born as an author.

Writing is not just wordsmithing or plotting or self-publishing. It’s a lifestyle and the commitment and desire to get your work out. You don’t become an author by publishing; you become an author by becoming the kind of person who can get a book out.


This may mean writing better, learning software, taking classes, or going to therapy for issues. It means honing your art and moving forward. In many cases, it means getting the book out even if it’s bad so you can write the next one. Author is a verb way more than it is a noun.

So many unrealized authors haven’t gone all the way being authors. Stuck daydreaming or stuck afraid to push the button and publish, many are still stuck. They’re not born yet.

Maybe this is what we need far more than another grammar guide or plotting guide – advice on being an author as a person. I hope this helps my fellow published authors help others. It will certainly guide my future advice.

Who do you need to be in order to become an author?

Steven Savage

Duty Calls, Should Have Gone To Voicemail

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(This column is posted at www.StevenSavage.com and Steve’s Tumblr.  Find out more at my newsletter.)

Note, I will return to my writing lessons from video games soon.  I’ve just had a lot of other inspirations lately.

At the start of the Christmas holiday, I had games to play, writing to do, a chance to pre-read Serdar’s next novel (spoiler, excellent), and much more.  I also had no desire to do any of these awesome things.

So I waited a week, then pushed myself.  I pushed myself through returning to work.  I pushed myself on my time off.  I even pushed myself to game, figuring something would be enjoyable.

Instead, everything I did felt like work most of the time, even things I enjoyed.  I didn’t seem to be depressed or down, just put upon.  No one was ordering me to do all this except me.

There’s a point where we turn wanting to do something into having to do something.  We truly care about something, but we build so much schedule and ritual around it that our core urge is lost.  Must replaces want.

For me, it was a feeling I had to do everything.  I had to stay on my schedule.  I had to get things done for friends and writing groups, etc.  No one told me I had to but me.  So it was time to change that.

I gave myself permission to drop anything or everything over the MLK weekend, and thought over what I wanted during a long walk.  In a day, my desires to read and create came back, I’d found the reasons I was doing these things by not doing them.  Now I find myself happier and more productive, and I’m even altering my plans for 2022.

(Interesting note, my urge to play video games came back last.  I suspect it’s changed and may write more on that).

You’ve probably had moments like this yourself.  Please, take a break and take time to reconnect with why you do things.  There’s no reason to loose yourself trying to do things, and you won’t get them done anyway.

Steven Savage