Many organizations have mission statements. Some people have their own personal mission statement. A few writers have an ‘author mission statement.’ I don’t think you need one, and I’ll explain why.
According to most definitions of mission statements, their purpose is to serve as a goal or agenda, to communicate the organization’s (or person’s) purpose to all stakeholders, and to create a sense of unity and identity.
To those purposes, I would add this: a mission statement can maintain focus and motivation.
Several authors have their own mission statement. Robert J. Sawyer’s is “to combine the intimately human with the grandly cosmic.” Dr. Randy Ingermanson’s is “to write excellent novels and non-fiction; to market my work like a mad genius; and to teach other writers to do the same.” Leanne Sowul’s is rather long, but begins this way: “My mission is to write fiction that tells stories from multiple perspectives about a significant moment in time.” Joanne Phillips’ is also long, and starts as follows: “I write stories to entertain and offer a temporary escape into another life.”
If all these authors have mission statements, and many have explained their reasons for having one, why am I suggesting you don’t need one? Who am I to go against the accumulated genius of more successful writers?
I’m not disparaging anyone’s mission statement. If other writers receive some benefit from theirs, more power to them. If you’re determined to come up with one for yourself, I’m not here to talk you out of it.
Also, I’m not against mission statements in general. They’re great for organizations. Even personal mission statements, of the sort advocated by Stephen R. Covey in The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, have significant value.
I’m just suggesting, before you invest the time to craft an author mission statement, you might ask yourself why you’re doing it. Do you believe you’ll write better after you have one? Do you occasionally forget why you’re writing and need a reminder? Do you really need the prodding of words on a brass plaque above your desk?
It’s not like you’re leading a team where members will stray off on tangents or act counter to the goal. For your fiction writing endeavors, it’s just you.
Think of other significant roles you have in life, possibly spouse, parent, employee, etc. Do you have written mission statements for any of those individual roles? If not, what makes your writer role different?
Most likely you started your hobby because an inner voice kept screaming “Write!” during your waking hours, and it’s never let up. Do you need more prompting than that?
Remember, time spent honing your mission statement is time not spent writing fiction.
Obviously, you’re free to do your own thing, in your own way. No matter your reason, you might want a written author mission statement, and might glean some benefit from having one.
Please leave a comment if you disagree with me. I’m especially interested in why you crafted your author mission statement, and how you think it has helped you.
For now, writing without any mission statement whatsoever, I’m—
Poseidon’s Scribe
Hi Steven,
Thanks for linking to my mission statement. I think your post is really interesting, and it made me reflect on why I wrote mine and how it’s served me over the years. The bit that struck me the most was this: ” Do you occasionally forget why you’re writing and need a reminder?”
This is me! I recognised myself in these words, which was surprising. My journey will may well be different to many of your readers, but I have to admit that over the past 8 years of writing and publishing and managing all the business and marketing side of ‘being’ a writer, there have been times when my enthusiasm has waned. There have been long periods when I’ve allowed writing time to drop down my list of priorities, and when you do that it’s so hard to bring it to the front again. Family responsibilities, health issues, other work, life (!) gets in the way.
When I re-discovered my author mission statement is was like meeting up with an old friend who reminded my why I’d taken that particular route in life; why I’d enjoyed it once and why it was as integral a part of me as having blue eyes or loving dark chocolate! And in that, I found the motivation to pick up writing again.
I’d say that I agree with you that writers shouldn’t need a daily reminder of why they want to write. But it can serve as a reminder of your passion should you need a boost in years to come.
Thanks,
Jo
Hi Joanne,
Thanks for reading my post, and for the comment. I’m glad, now, that I didn’t come down too firmly on the idea of not needing an author mission statement. When I wrote the question about forgetting why you’re writing, it was meant half-jokingly, because I couldn’t imagine that situation. To my mind, when a writer is asked why she writes, the answer should be: “Why do you breathe? Same reason.”
But you’re right that the pressures of life add up and can squeeze out time for writing. Writing is a little different from other life roles in that respect. We don’t need to ask ourselves why we are parents or spouses, or why we’re caring for a sick loved one. The answer is self-evident and usually outweighs the inner drive to write stories.
Sometimes a reminder can be helpful in lubricating rusty writing gears into motion again. Passions fade, but can be relit with the right spark. A mission statement is one way to reacquaint yourself with an important part of yourself that you’d shelved. I’m so glad your mission statement worked for you.
Perhaps, inspired by your comment, I’ll write a future post about restarting a writing habit after a long hiatus.
Again, thank you, and best of luck to you in all your writing endeavors.