Hubris

 

(Wow, there are five Thursdays in this December!)

(And it's New Years Eve, too.)

I have thirteen published novels, seven by a small press publisher, and six self-published. And, according to my records (that I haven't kept up on well) I have sold about 1,800 books total. Most of those are my first book, Hammer of Thor. Five of my books are fantasy, all part of a series. The rest are science fiction.

Despite this modest success (very modest), I keep writing. I'm currently working on the seventh (and final) book in a series. Well, actually, two series and this final book brings them together. 

But why do I keep on writing? And I think it's two things: 1) I love to write and b) hubris.

I saw a quote on Twitter that sort of inspired this blog post: "Writer’s block is only a failure of the ego." That was said by writer Norman Mailer. And in a way that's true. Writer's block is often when you don't think your writing is good enough. You don't have the ego, or hubris, to just keep writing. As someone said, you can't fix or edit a blank piece of paper.

My hubris makes me think I'll eventually write a book that everyone wants to read. I know, intellectually, that that's unlikely. But I still keep writing because of my hubris.

And I think that's why a lot of want to be writers don't start. They don't think they are good enough, They don't have enough hubris.

Do you have hubris? Or are you lacking the ego to write and keep writing? Let me know in the comments below.