By Josi S. Kilpack
I have not been great with my posts on this blog for . . . most of the summer. I was busy, like the rest of you, and it slipped my mind. But it certainly didn't help my rememberer that I haven't had many great ideas--things I feel would bless the lives of other writers. It's a lot easier to forget about something when you don't know what to do about it even if you remembered it.
I face the same thing today (which should have been yesterday) and am without any deep and completely engaging topic. And so, I'd rather hear from you guys. What I want to hear is why you write. I know that many of the answers will be the same for all of us--that's fine. But I want you to ask yourself anyway, and answer in the comments why YOU write. It's a question I ask myself A LOT and the answers change. Right now I'm writing because:
1) I know God's given me a talent and I enjoy using and growing it.
2) I really want to make some money
3) As much as I love my family--there is so much of them all the time. I could easily fill my time with cleaning and cooking and yard work, but I don't WANT to. I want something that's my own, that I do because I WANT to do it.
So bring it on, why do YOU write?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
7 comments:
Because every time I've attempted to quit, story ideas mugged me.
Because I love the idea that my words might make someone else's life better.
Because my brain makes stories out of everything.
Because stories define who we are.
Because I spend 90% of my time doing things for other people (husband and kids mostly) and I want one thing for me.
Because writing can fit in the spaces between the other things I have to do.
Because I love finding exactly the right words to express what I meant.
Because when I can't write, I am sad.
Because I love words. They are such powerful little things. They can break or heal, exalt or debase, entertain or anesthetize.
Because you can never have too many good books.
Because I like it when someone reads what I write and laughs or gasps or shows some other emotion, and tells me I'm really good and I have to write more. It feeds my ego.
Because Mr. Knapp (junior high guidance counselor) told me I was not performing up to my potential.
Because I have all these stories running around in my head and if I don't put them down on paper I think my brain will explode. Or atrophy from lack of use.
Because I want my children to see their mother developing a talent and doing something that she enjoys.
I write . . .
. . . to silence the voices in my head and give them a life of their own to live.
. . . because it is something I not only WANT to do, but HAVE to do.
. . . because I love the music of words and it thrills me to put them together in different word-pictures.
. . . because it's more fun to make characters do what I want them to than yell at somebody else's book.
. . . because it is one of the ways I can reach the youth.
. . . because, most of all, it makes me happy when I do it and miserable when I don't.
Because the words just fall onto little slips of paper or wire notebooks that always seem to be in the way until I pay attention and get them transferred onto the computer.
Because I love to see my writing in print, and it makes me feel happy when someone reads what I've written and tells me they learned something.
Because I must to live, just the same that reading affects me.
Because if I don't, my husband, my students, and all the members of my critique group start bugging me, asking "What are you working on now?" (Tee Hee! What would I ever do without them?)
I write because it is cheaper than therapy.
I write because I love to tell a good story.
But mostly I write because whenever I have prayed about what I am supposed to do with my life, the answer comes very clearly to my mind. WRITE. How can I ignore that?
These answers are so inspiring that if I weren't already writing, I'd start.
I notice a big difference in my attitude and general disposition when I'm writing or not writing. During the summer, I only edited and I felt like I was just treading water. When I started writing a new book at the end of August it was like I was back to my old self.
If I don't write, I eat. I don't want to weigh 300 lbs again.
Post a Comment