Interesting points! And thanks for the input on “why”, Joe. I didn’t actually answer that, but if I could be indulged a moment of introspection, I’ll answer. Hey, maybe my point of view isn’t as off as I think it is.

I don’t think I’d ever say I want writing to be my career. I say that same of all my artistic endeavours, though. I personally feel there’s a fine line between being an artist and being an employee hired for your talent. Even if you’re self-employed, at some point the monetization of art puts a different angle on it. I experienced that with my art; I drew all of the time, and was very close to becoming a comic book artist. But then I found that day when monetizing my art had drained my passion for it. I just wanted to draw Spider-Man over and over and over! Why couldn’t I get paid for that? lol. But that opinion is entirely my own.

I’m not ashamed to admit that entertaining others is my 100% primary driving goal. I don’t think I have the talent to move someone emotionally, but I do think I can distract them and give them a story they want to read, and I think that’s an okay goal for me. I have been tempted to only charge enough for my books that I make the money they cost me to produce, and nothing more.

I like your point above, Joe … “it’s something I can’t not do”. Probably the nicest double negative I’ve heard all day. I like it!

The fact that indie/self publishing or however someone wants to describe it is so new and that authors are now confronted with so many additional aspects of the work required to create a book beyond simply writing has instigated that reaction you’ve noted, where everyone is talking about books. With the industry still so unsettled I think that’s the biggest concern for everyone.

At the same time influences and why we write, what we write, etc. can still be very personal and not something everyone is willing to share or capable of articulating. I personally can say that I write because I want/need to – at times there’s a pressure in my head to get a story out and a story that I want to read but why a certain story? I don’t have an answer for that. And in terms of marking influences, with so many mediums out there these days is it ever easy to truly track the marked progress from one creator (author/auteur/artist/musician) to the next? If anything I think future academics are going to have a hell of a time tracking such things and documenting them for posterity for two reasons. 1) So much information is out there and can be difficult to track 2) Digital information is easily corruptible and lost.

But the thought occurs to me, maybe people also aren’t asking the question, “Why do you write?” Moses, on your own podcast AISFP it’s not a question I can remember hearing within the last three months as I’ve been catching up with your backlog of episodes. The same could be said is true of the interviews on ISBW and Litopia among other literature podcasts. So maybe if we start hearing it there then we’ll start seeing it more online.

Well, two thoughts, Moses — first, I don’t think you can blame anyone from trying to earn a living from their writing. It seems indie e-publishing is allowing some people to do that in a way midlist writers have not been able to in a *long* time. So don’t begrudge the money talk, it’s important. People’s livelihoods arise from it.

Also, I daresay there are blogs and other venues that do discuuss the “craft” of writing in some detail — like Absolute Write and the Writer’s Digest website maybe? But this indie publishing thing is still new. People are still figuring it out. So it makes sense to me that the more functional, bottom-line aspects of it are in the forefront of people’s thoughts right now. As independent publishing matures, that may change.