by Dan Popoff

Created on: July 25, 2010

One of the most pointless reasons to write a novel is because you have to.

As a new writer, and even newer novelist, the main reason in which one would undertake such a huge undertaking as to write a novel, is because a burning desire to pen a work, tell a story, and see their name on it. Everyone has a story to tell, but not everyone can or will ever write a novel. In my story, on the road to becoming a writer was not because I had to, it is because I wanted to.

The journey to wanting to, and having the desire to write, was a very long road indeed. I hated writing, hated even more reading, can count on one hand how many novels I have read in my lifetime. Two, one was because I had to for school, the other, because there was such a buzz, I wanted to see what it was all about. When I made the choice to go back to school, latter in life mind you, I struggled as to what to study.

I already own a small but successful business, so accounting seemed to be the logical choice. Started in, with both feet of course and quickly realized, wait a second, I don't like math. So had a dilemma, how could I get a degree in accounting and not take any math? Found out, rather quickly, this wasn't for me, so what to do? Had the funding already in place for school, but was at a lost as to which direction I should go.

Then a light bulb went off, in taking a college writing course, I saw my grammatical skills were not on the six grade level as I thought, more on the eleventh grade level. So I thought, a BA in English would be a good choice and my journey was on.

As I dove into this writing stuff, I quickly realized a passion I didn't know I had. So I started to really study the why, why do people write and why would anyone want to write a novel. Most of the responses I heard were, to get rich, to be famous, that was never me. So at a book store one day, I came across a book that summed it all up. The book is The complete Idiots Guide to Writing a Novel, by Tom Monteleone. My thoughts were, wow, I can do this and more importantly, I wanted to do this.

So the most pointless reason for anyone to try to write a novel is because they have to. The road ahead is not easy, hurdles that have to be overcome. Time needs to be made. Ideas have to start flowing and of course you have to write. That is just to get started.

So if you are having the idea, like myself, do it because you want to, not because you have to. The old saying holds true, happiness is in the journey, not the destination. Writing a novel is no different, enjoy the journey.

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