Everyone has needs: things they require in order to survive. Food, water, shelter from the elements, stuff like that. As in, if you don’t have it, you die sooner rather than later.
Everyone has wishes: pretty shinies in our head that would make our lives millions of times better, ‘if only…’. The stuff you would ask a genie for if you ever found a magic lamp.
Everyone has goals: whether you say them outloud, write them down, or keep them tucked in the back of your head, there are things you’ve set out to accomplish that will make you beam once you do. From folding the laundry before the day is over to going to the gym three times a week to finishing your next story draft.
There’s a fourth element that goes in this list. It frequently gets confused and/or interchanged with the above three terms, but to me it’s a completely different beast. You don’t die without it, and you probably wouldn’t ask a genie for it, and it’s not something you can guarantee you’ll obtain just by following a set of instructions.
But you still want it.
Sometimes you want it so much that you feel like throwing a tantrum because you don’t have it.
Want is a powerful motivator. And I think all too often, we push aside our wants in favor of practicality, or not being selfish. But sometimes it’s all right to own up to them. In fact, I think we should keep lists of them. Print out your list, stick it near wherever you write, and look at it when you’re trying to remember why you’re doing this.
The great thing about wants is they don’t have to be practical, or something you can guarantee you’ll achieve, but they can still motivate you. The list doesn’t have to be long. 5-10 things that meet the ‘want’ description and push you to do what you do. For me, it’s:
I want to…
- Walk into a bookstore and see the cover of my book grinning back at me from the front display
- Be invited to speak on a panel at a sci-fi/fantasy/anime convention because the people attending know my work
- Be in the airport and see someone engrossed in my book.
- Get a large enough advance to pay off a bill. Just one. The car would be a nice start.
- See people psyched on Twitter/Blogger/Facebook because my book is finally coming out
These are all things I may or may not achieve if I ever have a novel published, but they’re all things I won’t ever achieve if I don’t keep writing.
What do you want?
One thing I’d like is, even if it never became a bestseller, for at least one person, a complete stranger, to email me and tell me how much they loved my book. Even if just one person did that. That would be pretty awesome.
I want to see kids in the library reading my book. Or kids on the bus. Kids anywhere. It would be so cool to hear what they were saying to each other about it…
Great post.
Umm.. I want to hold my book in my hand. To see it in a bookstore. To get emails from readers who have discovered my books and characters. ummm The panel thing is good too.
*waves hi*
*waves hi!*
I love all your ‘wants’. I’ve been thinking about this more since I wrote this and I still think I agree…stuff like this – wanting to hear people talking about your book, or see them reading it, or holding it in your hands, they’re all such important motivators. Best of luck to everyone ^_^