Why Do You Write?

If you visited my blog soon after my last post, you had noticed I changed the design theme again. I get a little erratic with web design some times. Before I got into blogging—about nine years ago—I was making web graphics and constructing web page CSS layouts. I wasn’t making any money off of the service but I sure was having fun with PaintShop Pro and good ol’ notepad. Sometimes the notion of those days gets the better of me. The result is my mood of whimsy with my blog. I don’t do a lot of change really. Just enough to feed that beast in me.

What are your thoughts on this new look?

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Why Do You Write?

I read a post a few years ago that asked this question:

The blog post was directed towards people needing to find or better define their goals as a writer. The possible answers the author listed were temporal in nature. For example, to be rich was one of the replies. Another one was to be famous. Still another one was to put their mark on the world. All of them definitely secular.

There isn’t anything wrong with those answers. Making the best of your situation in this life is a positive attribute. True, there are people who take this characteristic too far. In opposition, there are those who didn’t have any ambition. Both extremes are frowned upon, often with vigor.

I will admit those answers of a materialistic description has crossed my mind more than a few times but not as an answer to this elusive question of why I write. I could probably bet money that Stephen King hasn’t written to get rich, be famous, or put his mark on the world even though he has accomplished all three by being skilled in the craft. I would guess the secular gain is a perk for him.

Writing is an art form just like painting or music. Chances are there are people who practice some sort of art form for the secular success but I would think they are not and probably never will be all that talented or, at least, bored with their chosen career. I say this because, unlike other skills anyone may have, those in the vast field of art, I would imagine, require a deep-rooted passion.

So… what is it about writing that has me infinitely captivate?

When my fingers prance over the keyboard or when I put pen to paper, I feel a sensation of imagination and immensity running through me. It’s as if all my nerves, at least the ones that work properly, are twirling and sashaying as my mind brings forth the words that appear before me. Dismally, this doesn’t happen every single time I sit to write but that doesn’t seem to matter. Just reaching for those glorious moments when it does happen for me keeps me coming back to the practice.

The hush of writing evidently has an alluring effect on me as well. Despite the fact that I am a product of the hippy era when loudness of most sounds became the norm and that I used to play three different musical instruments, I am always thirsting for quietude. Writing is one activity that doesn’t require noise except for the click of the keys. If I choose pen and paper, there isn’t even that minimal distraction.

I tried looking through a thesaurus to find the perfect word to describe the sensation writing gives me. The closest I could get to that ideal word after an hour of searching was obsession. Yet, that word has a negative implication to it I believe doesn’t apply. I don’t feel compelled to write. Instead, I crave the activity. I dug into the thesaurus again and found the word, devotion. Although I tend to think of religion when using this word, it does better describe the sensation writing gives me. I’m devoted to the craft.

Have I answered the question?

Yes, but it may have gotten lost in the journey to this point in the post.

Why Do You Write?

I write because I love that feeling of soaring to places I can’t travel to for one reason or another. I like imagining I’m someone different than who I am without the fear of reality. Because my reality is socially limited, writing gives me the chance to meet characters of all sorts. Despite what I tell you in this last sentence, I write because I actually like the aloneness, which I feel is crucial to write something worth reading.

I know there are plenty of writers who would disagree with the part about solitude. I am not saying I am right and they are wrong. All of us have our idiosyncrasies about what is the best way to write. To each their own. I just know I have major problems writing when I don’t have a level of silence enveloping me.

Why do you write?

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“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
― Anne Frank