Why I Write

I recently read a blog post on one of my favorite blogs, Christ is Write, about why she loves being an author. At the end, she prompted fellow writers to post their top reasons for writing. At first, I was really excited about it… until I started trying to list out some reasons why I write.

Honestly, I don’t know.

I tried to come up with some reasons like Tessa did, but none of them really captured the real reason why I write. At the end of the day, all I really know to say is that I write because I don’t like not writing. As I described in a previous post if I don’t write for a few days, I start going slightly crazy. I get to feeling depressed and utterly unproductive in life. It’s probably not even healthy what happens to my psyche when I neglect my writing. Journaling is sometimes good for inspiration, but it doesn’t always fix the problem.

 

My old Bible, new journal, and favorite pen. =)

Basically, I write because I have to, even when I don’t want to.

 

However, if I were to give a more glamorous reason for my writing, I'd have to say that I hope to inspire others through my words.

 

A few years ago, I was sitting in a British Literature class and--feeling a bit bolder than usual--asked the professor, "Why is all the 'great literature' so depressing? Why don't 'the greats' ever seem to write about the good things in life?"

 

"Well," she said. "Perhaps the good things just aren't noteworthy."

 

I'll never forget that moment. I was shocked that anyone would say such a thing. "I beg to differ," I replied quietly. "I believe the good things in live are very noteworthy."

 

To this day, that exchange haunts me every time I sit down to write. I decided that morning that I wanted my writing to focus primarily on the good things in life: Love, joy, hope, faith, family, friends... things that make us feel alive. Loss and grief are still part of my writing because they're part of life, but as Monica Wood puts it, my goal it to "write toward light."

I think that phrase sums up my purpose pretty well because I feel like it doesn't exclude the reality that pain and grief exist. So even though stories should feature real emotions, fears, and insecurities, at the end of the day, I hope to achieve something positive. 

I write because I have to, but I hope to inspire others. Not a glamorous manifesto, by any means, it's just the simple truth.