Photo by M.A.D.
A writer’s path is a long and quiet (I don’t like the word lonely or solitary) journey. There are long hours of creativity, learning, research, and more learning (especially new technology and tricks of the trade for indie authors). As if all of this is not challenging enough, there is the other part – the part when you are figuring out your writing-self, style, and if you are really cut out for all this. Passion is great, as is love for the craft; however, in these fast times, it might not come as a surprise that you will question your path, from time to time. You may have answered the why, the what, are figuring the how, and might have no clue about the when or where, depending on your goals and planning. Sometimes, the path less traveled seems to be the one that has all the thorns, the most challenging, and the less fast-rewarding. It may take you through twist and turns, up, down, and around, and leave you breathless. However breathless, more knowledgeable for walking the path, stronger for stepping on thorns, and satisfied, bled out but satisfied, even when there are no miraculous clues or tangible gratification for your efforts. What you do next, makes all the difference, and I will leave the next sentence to you -____________________________________fill the blank. It is your journey, and you decide.
I leave you with a small excerpt from Moonlit Valley.
“Loss changes your perception of things. It sweeps the hallways of your mind and dusts off your most precious memories. It forces you to open the doors of rooms closed for a long time and peer into your soul, looking for the last ray of hope, of faith. The hope you desperately need now, knowing that at one point, you had put it somewhere and forgotten about it. When you find it, you grab a hold of it, tight, fearing that when you wake up tomorrow, it could be gone. Tomorrow arrives and you realize that although in a faint state, it is still there, and you hold on to it again.”
Inkspeare 
I don’t write because I want to. I write because I can’t imagine not doing it. It helps me define who I am and share it with the world. Even if I never make single penny from the effort, I will continue to write because it is like breathing, eating, and sleeping to me. It is a basic need that must be met.
Sometimes we become discouraged when we don’t see results according to the goals we have traced ourselves, whether monetary or other more meaningful proof that we are achieving what we set foot to accomplish. It is easy to turn back, but if we continue (that is the hard part), and pass the point of no return, most likely, we will get there. Not everything has to be a goal, sometimes the goal is pure enjoyment in something we do, and that is satisfying in itself, because like you said, it meets a personal need. Thank you for stopping by 🙂