Writing can hard, frustrating and often maddening, but if you’re clear on your motivations it can help get you through a rocky patch.

Different writers write different projects for different reasons. No reason is wrong and any one or combination can get you going. Why are you writing what you’re writing?

18 Reasons Writers Write

1) Creative Rapture
2) Share Information
3) Make Money
4) Make Your Mark on the World
5) Change the World
6) Therapy/Self-Knowledge
7) Requirement/Assignment
8) Tell Your Side of the Story
9) Sense of Accomplishment
10) Everyone Tells You You Should
11) No One Else is Doing It
12) Professional Credit/Advancement
13) Obsessed with Project or Topic
14) Shame & Self-Loathing of Not Writing
15) Find Out How the Story Ends
16) Help Others
17) Not Qualified to do Anything Else
18) Stop Talking About It and Finally Do It

I’m sure there are others too, and it’s always a good time to think about your genuine motivation(s) for writing. The clearer you are about your goals, the better you can design your Project to meet them. Of course you can change or amend your goals later, but this seminal manifesto can also help guide your work and serve as a touchstone to re-visit if the Project gets off-track later.

WRITER’S ADVISORY: If you can’t answer one or both questions, don’t worry about it, just keep going with your project anyway.