Bethel University Football suffered another crushing loss on Saturday.  The sky overhead wept with the defeat, and even though the weather eventually cleared up, we were left soggy and frustrated.

Coached gathered the team around and said two things.

(Which I’m stealing to share with you.)

Listen to the RIGHT Voices.

And…What’s your WHY?

Why do you do the things you do?  Make the choices you make?

Why do you spend hours trying to write a great story, learning craft, enduring critiques, submitting your naked baby to the world?

Why?

For me, it’s because deep inside I have questions about life, truth itching to break free, to transform me, overflow into the people around me, and spill out onto the page in a way that I hope will set others free.

I believe my story—my journey, and my novel—matters.

Even if it’s just to me and my Creator. My writing makes ME a better person.  And if it touches the world around me…well, that’s a bonus.

So…what’s YOUR Why? 

Dig deep, find it.  Let it root you, AND ignite you (to mix metaphors there.)

Let it focus you. 

But don’t stop there! Ask your CHARACTER, “Why?”  Why this journey?  Why now?  What’s at stake? These are the essential questions to knowing if you have a book your reader will care about.

Without a Why, the people perish. Oh no wait, that’s not the right quote. But it sort of is, isn’t it?  Without a VISION, the people perish…and really, the vision is the outcome of a great Why.

Once you figure out your why, then, determine to hear only the RIGHT voices. The ones that tell you it’s worth the cost, it’s worth the struggle. And that there is a reason your story is aching to be told.

What’s Your Why?

Listen to the Right Voices.

And go, write something brilliant!

Susie May

P.S. We’re all about helping you find that great WHY at Novel.Academy. Over 100 classes on how to get published and stay published and write a story that nudges the world. Stop by and watch one of our free classes!