What's The Point?

Have you ever found yourself questioning what you're writing and why? It's been a long, hard haul writing my fantasy Dragon Stone series. I've been getting the first book Call of the Dragon edited and ready for publication, and I'm at the point where I'm questioning my motives for writing this series. Is it purely entertainment? Why did I write this book?

I find when I answer these questions I can say that I wrote this series because I had fun with the story. Sure, I've battled out the dry periods and found it was work trying to make all three books fit together, but all in all, I stuck to my motto: If you aren't having fun, you should change what you're doing.

I have to define fun in my terms: It means doing something that creates a challenge for me and at the same time leaves a lasting impression on the people around me. In the first book, Call of the Dragon, the protagonist is told: If you choose an action, it will become a link in your destiny. That means my foot will step into new realms when I write these stories. And who knows where they will take me? I enjoy creating these characters and the worlds they live in. And I grow a little more each time I put pen to paper.

So what's the point? Some of the time I find myself being very critical of my writing and I want to hit the delete button. I think that perhaps I should take up origami. But that's called having an inner critic. Most of the time my critic is a good thing. But there are those days when I don't see anything good coming out of the scribblings I make. And then I get a book in the mail with my story published in it. That's the point! It all becomes worthwhile again and I'm able to put my shoulder to the wheel and start working on making compelling exposition again.

So what about you? What questions have you been asking yourself?