: Re: What's the point of writing that I know will never be used or read? Writing can be a very difficult, frustrating, stressful and effortful process. It can also be very isolating to the writer.

@Carla500

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I think it can be very rewarding for a humble writer to create something concise and share it with a single other person. It becomes a kind of intimate experience for them, being the first person ever to read a story intentionally crafted by another human being. Unfortunately I don't have an answer for you as to why you should want to write something nobody will read. My answer is to find one person who will read it, and to know how deep even that simple experience can be, for them and for you, and to find satisfaction in that.

A friend of mine writes poetry, and he occasionally sends it to me before anyone else has seen it. When I think about the fact that another human being just poured part of their heart into writing, and that I am the first person ever to be given the chance to engage with that part of them in that way, it makes me feel like I've gotten to experience something special.

It's sad to think of all the fantastic and heartfelt works of literature out there that were only ever read by the author alone or by a small group of the author's friends, that for one reason or another having nothing to do with how good it is it never picked up enough traction to become widely recognized. It's not sad to me because it never got popular or because the author never got paid, but because it is, in a sense, locked away from those who might have enjoyed it or been affected by it. But the stories they've written are no less valuable just because I and others won't get the privilege of finding it.

I say the value and reward of your writing is putting into the real world a manifestation of part of yourself. I personally believe it's our natural human inclination to tell stories, imitating the one in whose image we are made and who made us and is telling our story. And I think if you see it that way, even getting to know a single person experienced the story you created for them will feel like a blessing.

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