What’s your writing goal? Is it simply to make money? I spend a lot of time on this blog talking about how to make money via writing. However, there’s a lot more that we can do with words than simple make a living. Indeed, we can do a lot of good in the world. We can become change agents.
Here’s one example: Masha Hamilton was named this year’s recipient of the Women’s National Book Association WNBA Award, which is presented to “a living American woman who derives part or all of her income from books and allied arts, and who has done meritorious work in the world of books beyond the duties or responsibilities of her profession or
occupation.”
Hamilton is a novelist and former foreign correspondent. Her fiction includes 31 Hours and The Camel Bookmobile. As a journalist, Masha worked for the Associated Press, reporting from the Middle East, and for the Los Angeles Times and NBC/Mutual Radio, reporting on the Soviet Union during its final years.
In 2009, she launched the Afghan Women’s Writing Project “to foster creative and intellectual exchange between Afghan women writers and American women authors and teachers.”
WNBA president Mary Grey James praised “the depth of Masha’s commitment to the world of literacy and books beyond her own career. She is a sterling example of what the WNBA Award truly intends to honor—meritorious work in the world of books beyond her profession.”
Have you ever thought about how you can do good works in the world or be a change agent with your writing? Maybe it’s time to do so.
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