Why it doesn't matter...

I recently had a conversation with someone who gave me a decidely weird look when I informed her that I wrote mysteries. The look got weirder when I informed her that my mysteries tend to involve a lot of gray areas — good people doing bad things for good reasons, moral ambiguity, that sort of thing.

Finally she asked something like, "why don't you write something better?" in a very condescending tone.

I run into that question occasionally and usually I just stick my tongue out at the person. After they've turned their back.

Writing's writing. You may write non-fiction, newspaper columns, porn, mysteries, fantasy, literary fiction, whatever. It doesn't matter to me as long as you enjoy what you write and the genre serves your story's purposes.

I write because I enjoy writing. It just so happens that I can make a decent living stringing words together.

Here's a few reasons why it doesn't matter...
1) I've been published, while 99% of the people who look down their nose at me for what I write haven't been published and never will be published.
2) I gain personal satisfaction from my writing, so they can go sit in the corner and be offended by my stories all they want.
3) I've been paid for my writing, so screw them.
4) It happens that the mystery genre provides me with a foundation to study topics that are of interest to me. Moral ambiguity.Succeedingg amid deep personal problems. Redemption. Southern life. The importance of the family name to old southern families.
5) I think my very cleverpseudonymm, E.C. Morgan, would look damn good on a book cover. But maybe that's just me.

But, yea, I write primarily mysteries these days for one simple reason. It's fun. And that's the most important thing.