Written or Published?

On one hand:

Do you want to write, or to be published?
Which is your interest, to be a writer or to be an author?

Lamott raises this question to say that most who think they want to be writers don’t have that much interest in writing; they just want to be published authors.

On the other hand:

The two are not exclusive.

I write, primarily, because I have ideas that I want to present to as large a public as possible. I am a teacher. Thus, I write to publish–to public–and to make my ideas available to the public. There are many ways to do this. A blog is one.

On the other hand, I enjoy writing, both in longhand--whether with pencil or pen--and on a keyboard. I enjoy crafting words, framing ideas, ideas that live in my mind, but are without definition until I give them defined form in writing. I do this apart from any intention to publish.

I write for myself to clarify my own thought, to find out what I am thinking, and to test its validity.

Long years ago I had a professor, an old man who had published many books and articles. When I asked him about writing, he replied, “I don’t like to write. I like to have written.” I am not his near kinsman. I like to write.