There is a statistic I’ve seen in a couple of places that says that 99% of all writers who submit their work never get published. At best, this statistic is discouraging. Yet it floats around out there as if a tool to flog ourselves with mercilessly.

So why would someone do something that has such miserable odds? I wonder that myself, since I’m one of those people plugging away. I have been writing for 14 years. I have gone to what feels like a zillion conferences for writers, taken creative writing courses, and worked out stories in writer’s groups month after month, year after year, for years. I have done this while piecing together part-time jobs and child-support to make ends meet.

In the process, I have written at least four viable manuscripts (two of which my agent is marketing), have one now in print, and have a new one I’m working on. This new one will probably be revised a dozen times before I send it to my agent, probably a year or so from now. Folks, this is definitely not a get-rich-quick endeavor.

A whole industry has grown up around people who want to write. They are often called “wannabes” or they want-to-be a writer someday. And they, like me when I started out, are incredibly naïve about what it actually means to be a writer.

On the other end of the spectrum are the “I used to write” camp. These are the people that gave it a go and for whatever reason, usually having to do with paying the bills, gave it up. I don’t blame them one bit. I understand completely. And at the same time, I fight daily to not become a part of this camp.

This is not something you do for fame or fortune. Writing is something you do because you have to do it. You have to do it or else you will explode, implode, or be very unhappy. You have to do it or life as you know it will end. It feels like life or death. Being creative—writing, painting, sculpting, dancing, whatever—is not something that can be chosen lightly. It is a responsibility. And every time we pick up the pen or paint or learn a new dance position we are defying the odds.