Reflections on The Old Man and The Sea

I want to write a story.  But I don’t know what to write about.  And I think about the post by Naval or whoever it may be.  And I wonder: what is the end goal of their advice?  All this advice floats around and permeates cyberspace.  It seems as if it is all in the quest of selling whatever it is you are trying to do.  But what if you aren’t interested in selling?  What if you aren’t interested in the money?  Or the admiration that comes with a successful product?  What then is the point of toiling over the creation of the product?  Is that the question that the Old Man and The Sea tried to answer?  I often think about my initial reaction to that story.  How frustrated I was that he worked so hard for nothing.  And then I thought: is there only value in something if it earns you admiration and/or money?  If I had a million dollars in cash but was the only person left on Earth – that money is meaningless.  I could burn it I guess, but that’s about it.  Ok, but what about writing a book?  Or writing blog posts that no one ever reads?  Or painting a mountain landscape that no one ever sees?  The only value then that can be derived is through the individual who created the thing.  And the value has to come from the process, not the finished product.  Why toil with a painting or a book when you can simply buy one that most likely will be much better than anything you can produce? 

I guess what I’m trying to get at is: why do I want to write if not for applause or money?  Am I simply kidding myself and that is what I actually want but I’m trying to be all “philosophical” about it?  If I’m being honest, I think that may be part of the answer.  At least to some degree.  If I can help someone with my writing, or entertain them, then that seems worth it.  I will have been the cause of a positive stimuli shot into the ether.  But at the extreme; if after writing 100,000 words of a perfect manuscript, one that I adored, it was immediately burned up in a heap of ash…would I still write it?  Something that is purely about the process and only I can see?  Because even if no one ever saw it there is still satisfaction I would glean from having the manuscript sitting up on the bookshelf, or, even more removed, sitting as a file on my computer.  And so I think we naturally come to two questions that matter most: will I gain a deeper understanding of myself?  Or: do I enjoy writing enough for purely writing’s sake? Is it fun?  Only I can answer these questions.  If either are YES, then by all means go for it.