Can you see the words in your head as you write? Do you watch the action play out like an episode of “Game of Thrones” as you write them down? Do you wake up in the middle of the night because a new idea popped in your head and you can’t go back to sleep? Congratulations… You’re a writer!

Sleepless nights, check! Frustrating time staring at your computer screen, check! Searching Google for baby names, not for your own kids but for your characters, double check! This is just part of the fascinating life that awaits you as a writer.

Then there’s the garbled thoughts as you confuse real life with the fantasy world as you try to do your job or eat a simple meal. You can’t even enjoy a vacation without using it to scout out locations for a scene in your novel. The same goes for meeting new people. Just remember, never “piss off” an author or you may wind up as a character earning a swift death in their next novel.

Then there’s the never ending expenses. Like any artist, starving is the appropriate word. As a self-published author, you spend money on editing, artwork, inventory, marketing, etc. And, unlike an author with a literary agent or publishing house, you spend more money than you receive from sales. It is a constant drain on your pocketbook until you get recognized or find your audience.

So, after all that, what’s the reward? The reward, for any author, is telling your stories. Instead of you living in them, all by yourself, you get to share them with others. I think that, like other artists, getting to share your creativity is a reward all in itself. It makes us who we are, fulfills that inner spark, and gives all of a chance to let loose and be who we are.

We all want to be successful, as in any career, but this is our passion. Writing makes us who we are as writers, no matter what the obstacles before us.

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Mark Piggott is the author of the Forever Avalon book series. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon. The Dark Tides is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and iUniverse publishing. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is coming soon from Austin Macauley Publishing.