Why I Write
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I write. Going through school, English was never my favorite subject because my teachers always got hung up on the rules of grammar. Whereas I wrote with my heart and knew that when I read something, that it just felt right.
Of course, this system isn’t fool-proof. I’ve read a lot of books and newspapers over my lifetime to be able to read something and know whether it’s grammatically correct. I’m not perfect, but the system of "it reads well" has worked through my entire college career.
There are very few things that cause me to "drift away" creatively: writing, playing the piano, and going for long drives. When I take long drives, I really reminisce and great ideas flow through my head. When I play the piano; when the music is committed to my memory, it seems like it flows right through me without any effort as it goes through my brain to the keys. Writing is almost the same way, I have these great thoughts that just go through my brain and tap away at the computer keys as I put into words what my brain is thinking.
And as I’ve thought about it, I’ve been processing, "why do I write?" Well, here are some reasons.
It’s Therapeutic
In the movie Finding Forrester, a great writer befriends a young man and helps him improve on his writing. The first thing he does is get Jamel, the main character, to start typing on the typewriter. As Jamel hesitates to type, Forrester speaks up:
"No thinking. That comes later. You write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is to write. Not to think."
For me, this is what makes writing therapeutic. The idea that I can allow my brain take over my fingers as they tap the keys. The ideas flow from my head to the keys and finally escape, now I have a visual view of my thoughts.
This is what makes it so therapeutic. Often times, in my case, I find that I have a lot of "junk" in my head. I have great ideas, but just like an old attic, occasionally there are some old things that need to be cleaned out. Getting all my thoughts out on paper allows me to visualize what my brain’s been thinking and allows me to have greater clarity.
It Challenges Me
Writing challenges me on so many levels, not because of grammar, but because it forces me to think. Often times we have what we think are great ideas in our head, but if we can’t verbally express those great ideas, how can they become a reality?
It’s like describing what you saw in a dream, have you ever tried to do that? It’s hard because that visual dream world lives inside your head and when asked to describe it, it’s difficult because you’ve never been challenged to describe it. When I think of this, I think of writers who imagine great worlds inside their head and those worlds are only able to come alive because they’re able to articulate what they saw in their head.
Not only that, but writing challenges me to back myself up with facts. There have been times where I’ve written opinion pieces and even though it’s just my opinion, that opinion carries more weight and substance when backed up with real facts. Writing challenges me, and others, because it causes us to fact check what we say or want to say.
Unfortunately there are people who write what they feel and don’t back themselves up, this is a true tragedy and will never cause them to grow as writers and thinkers.
It Allows People to See the World As I See It
I’ve always heard the saying, "two people can look at the same picture and see it totally different." I can totally relate. For me, writing (and to a greater extent, photography) allows me to share with others how I see the world. I don’t claim to always be right, but I believe that we can learn a lot from each other by seeing the world from the perspective of someone else.
It Can Stir Up Memories and Live Long After I’m Gone
I can’t claim that my writings will be around long after I’m gone, but it is possible. If I were to die tomorrow, you could get a pretty good idea of who I was just by reading my writings. And to a greater extent, the reason that I write and take pictures is so that I can remember things as my mind begins to fade.
It’s not that my memory is getting worse, but it seems that some of my older memories get archived to make room for new memories. The old memories seem to be unlocked by watching an old family video, looking through pictures, seeing an old friend, smelling something that reminds me of a past memory.
Writing for me is therapeutic now and hopefully will serve as a memory-jogger in the future.
Conclusion
So there you have it, some of the reasons why I write. Hopefully it might inspire you to start writing or to find another creative outlet to express yourself! Thanks for reading.