How to find your true purpose, passion and motivation in nonfiction writing
Have you ever noticed that people will often ask about what you’re writing, but rarely why you’re writing it? Even when you mention you’re writing a book – a whole book – have you ever been asked why? Would you even expect to be asked about your reasons, motivations, inspirations? And, more importantly, would you be able to give them a solid, considered, meaningful answer if they did?
Last week in our Book Forge writing and wellbeing programme Lisa Williams joined us as our guest speaker to talk about her experience as a published author, public speaker, coach and all-round awesome human being.
What Lisa did with her time with us was nothing short of beautiful.
Instead of focusing the session only on her own accomplishments for our members to draw advice and inspiration from, she also turned the tables. She shone the spotlight on our budding authors, asking them a big, big question.
WHY?
Why are you writing that book?
Like many writers, several of our members have more than one book in them, with each idea vying for time, energy and head space. Lisa wanted to know why they’d chosen to focus on the one that had won out for them.
This seemingly simple question tends to elicit a false positive answer. By that I mean, the writer might respond with the answer they’re telling themselves is the truth:
It’s my passion!
I want to share my knowledge with the world.
I want to help others going through what I went through.
They think that’s the reason they’re writing it, but, when explored more fully, it’s not always the deeper, honest truth.
Lisa helped us see what we hadn’t seen or felt about our purpose as a writer, our inspirations, our motivations for a particular writing project. She helped us see why, for some of us, now is the right time to write the ‘other’ book. The one that hurts. That feels emotionally raw. For others, to write the one that leads from the heart not the head. To put the one aside that might support our work because what is needed now is to write the book that serves our soul.
If you struggle to answer your why, try what
Author and inspirational thinker Simon Sinek suggests that, to get to the real answer, you stop asking ‘Why?’ and ask yourself ‘What?’ This is because ‘Why?’ is an emotionally loaded question and the part of the brain that controls feeling and behaviour doesn’t control language. So answering an emotional question is hard to put into words, whereas answering a more grounded, head-strong ‘What’ question is easier to wrap our thoughts around.
Try asking yourself questions like:
- What is the most important reason for me to write this book?
- What is it about my book that makes me want to write it?
- What is it about my book that matters to me?
- What do I want from my book?
- What do readers want from my book?
- What will keep me writing until my book is finished?
- What does writing my book help me to achieve?
Ask the same question(s) over and over. Ask follow-up questions. Keep on asking. And let it get uncomfortable, then you know you’re getting somewhere. As you dig deeper, peeling through layers of superficiality, self-consciousness, of answers you think you ought to give, you’ll find the answer that gives you shivers. That lights your eyes. That fills your chest.
What’s your why?