Why Do We Write Continuously
I don't know about anyone else, I just have words and numbers floating around in my head and I can't seem to get enough of them out! Money would be nice, but I get more satisfaction from the fine people I meet here. (and blogging and vlogging) That's something money cannot buy.
You asked for it, Peter...
Here goes:
Mainly, I write because I enjoy it. Also, though, I write for money. I don't write because I have nothing better to do, because I write in spite of having a lot of better, and more pressing, things I should be doing. I REALLY don't write for fame, because that's the last thing I want. I don't write to impress anyone, because I'm not one to try to impress people. Neither do I write to communicate my thoughts because I don't presume people care about what my thoughts are (and I'm fine keeping so many of my thoughts to myself anyway).
I write because I think too many important ideas and feelings get "lost to the winds" when people don't capture them (for, maybe, future grandchildren/great-grandchildren) in writing.
I write because I like the clicking of the keys.
I write because there are things I've learned about life, and I hate to have what I've learned wasted by keeping it to myself.
I write because I like the idea of maybe "giving someone a little ride" (with some kinds of writing).
I write because I like to be someone who lets other people know they aren't alone.
I write because I tend to live with chronic dissatisfaction and anger in this world, so I feel as if my head will explode if I don't put it into civilized words, put order to the thoughts, and free my head of a lot of it.
I write because too many people misunderstand too many other people, and if I think I can share something I know about some of those "other people", maybe it will help someone understand them better.
I write to defend people I think need defending - some children, elderly people, anyone in a group that is treated poorly, the poor, the wealthy, and on and on and on. I don't like it when people would prefer to feel superior to someone else, rather than try to understand them. So, I write to try to share what I can about understanding some of those people who could use as many people speaking up on their behalf as possible. I write because too many parents don't seem understand their children or even recall being a child themselves. I write because too many kids truly don't understand where their parents are coming from.
I write because I'm angry at a world that so often treats and sees women the way it does.
I write because I've learned that keeping my thoughts and activities to myself resulted in my being shocked to discover other people would, if given the chance or reason, imagine what I "must be thinking" - and then form opinions of me based on what they imagine!
So, I write because I've learned the hard way (at least for me) that saying what I'm thinking is safer than not. (It's a problem some women/wives/daughters have more than some other people.)
I write because I imagine that one day my grown kids will find what I've written and understand their mother just that much better (even though now we're far closer than a lot of moms and grown kids are).
I write because I love to put the words together in a way that (hopefully, and when I do it right) makes them become something more than just words on paper or a screen, and makes them become something almost tangible.
I write because when I think of the reasons why I write it makes my heart pound a little and makes me feel just a little on the edge of tears - maybe.
I write because I can (or at least I think I can).
I write because I love the order and science and logic of thoughts put into the right words.
I write because today's world so often seems to have forgotten the importance and power of words, and instead seems so often to think the only thing there is that matters is technology. It's as if the world has forgotten the role of words and writing throughout history. (Coming from the Boston area, where it was words and ideas at the root of the founding of the country that would become what America has; I've always been particularly aware of the power of words and ideas. So, in ways, I write because I want to help keep the world from forgetting what words can do.)
I write because, in a world where so many people hate to have to write something or where so many struggle with writer's block or grammar rules, it comes fairly easily to me - so I figure I may as well go with it.
I write because, as middle-aged as I may be, I still have it in my head that there's always the chance I'll write the thing that helps change the world.
I write because I imagine that something I write may somehow manage to help my children know how much I love them.
I write because I like presenting arguments.
I write because I think the most difficult way to "paint a picture" is through the use of something as "dull" and "black-and-white" as letters and words - so I write because it's a challenge.
I write because I like to play with words.
I write because it's separate from the person people see and hear when I'm speaking in person, and from the person about whom others so often seem to make misguided judgments based only on what they see and hear.
I write because writing won't let me go.
I write because I'm in my element when I'm writing.
I write because, in a world and a life in which I seem to have a tendency to have been knocked around quite a bit, writing is the thing that helps keep me grounded in my "me-ness".
I write because writing is as much a part of who I am as my light brown hair and gray-blue eyes are.
I write because my writing is something that is mine, and only mine; and nobody can intrude on it, or take it away from me.
I write because the words are there.
And, I write because even when the words aren't there I know just where to go to find them.Oh - and based on the post (that will almost certainly be deleted as soon someone detects it as massive spam that's loaded with tacky links) above this one, I guess I write because I think that - imperfect and human as my writing may be in the eyes of anyone who more values "Internet-focused" writing - the Internet can use some writing that's just a little bit more others-centered than crappy, money-grubbing, spammers' posts are.
( )- Poetic Foolposted 14 years ago
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