“For it would seem… that we write, not with the fingers, but with the whole person. The nerve which controls the pen winds itself about every fibre of our being, threads the heart, pierces the liver…
So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters, and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say…”
~ Virginia Woolf
This echoes the long-held admonition of don’t write for the market, write what you love to write and then find the market. I grew up loving to read murder mysteries and that’s what I love writing. On the other hand, it would be nice if what I write matters more than for a few hours.
Ah, yes. Genre fiction often fills reader’s need for escape or entertainment, which is valuable of itself, but short-lived. Still, I think we can push ourselves to write stories that say something we want to say, and they will speak to the reader in a way that touches or sticks with them.