I had an interesting conversation with a friend of mine this morning while exercising at the Senior Center. Ann is retired but continues to offer technical services through AH Technical Services here in Fort Collins.
Through her work she helps out with local PR projects she believes in, and was generous enough to create the covers of all of my books. Ann is also one of the brightest people I know. In addition, she and her daughter Carol completed a science fiction novel called: Hooray for Holopticon in 2009.
Today I asked her whether she felt creating and producing her one and only novel has been worth her investment of time, creative energy, and money. She said yes! She and her daughter had been working on it for a few years and then finally decided to go ahead and self-publish it.
We both agreed that the only real reason to write and produce a book is because you have to. There are many more selfish and altruistic reasons, but in the end most of us only produce a book because we cannot stop thinking about doing it. We simply feel compelled.
There are certainly no guarantees anyone else will ever read our works, appreciate them, or profit personally from reading them. But if you have a book inside of you that you feel strongly about, have at it!
