Goodreads asked Victor Shamas:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Victor Shamas Everything you do as a writer must be grounded in passion. Why are you doing this? How much do you love the subject matter and the actual experience of creating? And what benefit are you seeking to derive from it? The answer to this last question is especially critical. Many years ago, when my writing was motivated by some external goal, it felt like an empty exercise. I was just stringing words together without much purpose or intention. Now, I write for myself, in order to express something that is deep inside of me, to make new discoveries, and to provide guideposts for my own journey. I gain new insights as I write, each of which helps me learn more about who I am and my relationship to this extraordinary universe of thoughts and things that surrounds and fills me.

If you want to know about the business side of writing, about how to make a career of it, I am the wrong author to consult. I know nothing about that. But I can tell you about love, joy, inspiration, the role of intuition, the importance of devotion, and the self-transcendent nature of writing. This is the realm in which I live and create. I write for myself because I never, ever know if anyone else will read my books, much less appreciate them. It turns out that what inspires me tends to touch others in a similar way. That is why I publish my writing, in the hope that someone else will derive the same kind of benefit from these books that I have.

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