It’s standard writing wisdom to know to whom you are writing.

• Knowing your intended audience lets you clarify genre, for example.
• Knowing your audience helps with voice.
• Knowing your audience preps you for dealing with those folks who aren’t part of your audience, read your work and feel like commenting anyway.

But at a deeper level, knowing that you have an audience gives meaning to the process.

Recently I’ve been reading a book, Light Up Your Child’s Mind, which is about creating a love of learning in your children. I haven’t finished the whole thing yet, but one of the core elements of getting task commitment is giving the task meaning. One way to generate a sense of meaning? Do things that impact those around you. That is, have an audience.

Sometimes, it can incite perfectionism to think about who it is that might pick up our work. Instead of thinking of that, think of how it is someone might read your work. What difference does the story you tell bring to the lives of your readers? Still feeling perfectionist? Well, get over it. Seriously, you don’t have to be perfect to make a difference, but it’s a great question to demand of your work: why would a reader care about this story? How does this story bring significance to others? It’s the next level up.

If you write for yourself, good for you. If you work to make a difference through writing, great for all of us, because the writing will be stronger for it.

Lastly, I’m not saying be didactic — fantastic, non-narrative explorations can change lives or at least afternoons.  What will your writing do for someone on a rainy night, waiting for their bus to come?

Angie Powers has an M.F.A. in English and Creative Writing from Mills College, where she won the Amanda Davis Thesis Award for her novel, The Blessed. She also has a Certificate in Screenwriting from the Professional Programs at UCLA. She is the co-director and co-writer of the short Little Mutinies (distributed by Frameline and an official selection of the Palm Springs International Short Fest) and was a quarter-finalist for the Nicholl Fellowship and at Blue Cat Screenplay Competition for the full-length screenplay of Little Mutinies. She’s twice made it into the second round of consideration for Sundance Labs and is a Cinestory semi-finalist this year. She also wrote and directed the short Hot Date, which premiered at Frameline. She is currently finishing a new novel and a short film.