Goals and Motivation

I don’t know if I really understand what is wanted here. Are we talking about my goals in life and my motivation to achieve them or my goals for this site? It is kind of late in the week to be asking so I’ll endeavor to do both.

My life goals are relatively simple ones. I want to be a good man and a better husband. When I say, I want to be a good man; I simply mean that I would like to work hard, be honest and live my life the best way that I can. I am one of those fortunate people who realize happiness is, to a large degree, a state of mind. I know that things could always be worse than they are. I like what I do for a living and love what I do for fun. (this) The biggest regret I have right now is not having more time to enjoy the simpler things in life.

My writing goal is a simple one as well. I would like to be able to publish something and maybe make a little dough doing it. I’m not looking to write the great American novel or become a famous journalist. They are both great endeavors but not my cup of tea. I’d just like to write something that touches someone. I’d like my great grandchildren to be able to say, “We had a writer in the family. He wrote those beautiful stories.”

My motivation is twofold. First and foremost, my wife is a great motivator. She believes I can do just about anything I set my mind to. It is so much easier to believe in yourself when someone else does as well.
My second is insanity. I mean this literally. I would literally go insane if I did not write down some of the craziness that runs through my brain. When I write it down it somehow purges it from me. I can write something that I think is really good and then wad it up and throw it away. I just feel better when it is out of me. Once I’ve written something I can barely remember what it was about. The short story, The Field of the Broken Heart, is a good example of this. There was a contest on this site I stumbled upon. At that time I had not entered any contests nor had I the desire to do so. But it was one of those that show you a photo and you write a story from that. I made the mistake of looking at the photo. I could not sleep that night. I wasn’t thinking about a story but that photo kept bugging me. So I got up at 3am and an hour and a half later I had the thing written. I submitted it and won but I did not write the story to win, I wrote it to get it out of my system. It was driving me crazy. That is pretty good motivation.

I would like to provide comfort and security for my wife. She is disabled and has enough on her plate without having to worry about money or bills and such. I would like to earn enough in the next five or ten years so that she will not have to worry, should anything happen to me.
561 words.