As authors, who do we write for if not ourselves. In reading the fine book "Hit Makers: How to Succeed in an Age of Distraction" by Derek Thompson, two sentences hit home to me:
"Does great art begin with feedback, or does it start with the opposite--a quiet space, devoid of distractions, where creators can turn the spotlight inward and make something mostly for themselves?"
AND THEN
"If novelists had perfect foresight of how the public would greet their work, they might never lift a quill or tap a keyboard."
By no means do I consider myself a great writer, rather a good one trying to get better. And the biggest mistake I make in writing is during the course of it asking myself "what will readers think about this?" Trying to guess that or to imagine some target audience, I believe, is a fool's game. When all is said and done, I strive to please myself with words and paragraphs and pages and chapters that amuse me, intrigue me, make me sad, and make me happy. If readers, whoever they may be, like the writing too then I am glad and grateful, a bonus if you will, but exactly that. Consider these final words on the subject by author Thompson:
"...it's hard to avoid the conclusion that perhaps the best writers also knew to just do the work and forget, for a moment, that anyone would ever read their reverie. They mounted a stage production in their minds, but just for them, something palatial and private, like a daydream."
For writers, or for me at least, that says it all.
