Writing to be Happy

Not a week goes by without someone asking me: What's the point of this if you don't even get a decent financial return? This doesn't make any money! To which I always reply: It's not all about money.

It would be great if we actually had more public policies aimed at developing a lifelong readership, not just during school. It would be wonderful if access to books were guaranteed through better living conditions for everyone. It would be incredible if female writers were valued, etc., etc., etc.

I don't deny the desire that everything could be better, but this verb in the future tense often makes people misunderstand why we continue to write and, to top it all off, discourage us and reduce what we do to an immediate monetary reward. The end.

There are differences between money and value, between the last century's concept of success and what we believe to be success now, between what you think and what I know about myself.

I don't want to list my countless reasons here or justify my daily practice of recording and writing. I don't need to explain why I like it, why I do it, why this or that, as if I constantly needed to prove the importance of what I do. I don't need, nor do I want, to update society on the money, value, or success involved in my literary production.

Just let me write.

Let me be happy.