Why do you write? For me I write because I am compelled to. It is who I am. It is how I identify myself. I don’t know about you, but for me being a writer sort of flows through my veins like blood. It envelopes every cell of my body. There are stories floating around in my head that want to get out.
We all have many titles, mine include but are not limited to: wife, mother of four, instructor, friend, aunt, cousin, niece, godmother, neighbor, sister, PTA vice president, volunteer, writer. All of these are important and make up who I am and my roles in the world.
I’ve often read that we all need to find the one thing that identifies who we are. We need to find our true calling, our passion- and then we need to go for it. Be true to ourselves. For me that is being a writer. I feel compelled to write. It is my inner drive that tells me who I am and what I do.
Why do you write? I would love to hear your responses…:-)
The Best of WG2E Wishes — Lois Lavrisa
Too many ideas in my head, I have to let them out, otherwise I’d go mad. I too am compelled to write and weave words into stories.
Elle- so true I fear I will go mad if I don’t get them out on paper too:)
The hammer makes me do it. It’s the one in my heads that strikes when ideas burst into existence. It finds a rhythm as those ideas expand and I extinctually go a’sploring. Navigating the ideas is an adventure of their own apart from the experience of reading a finished story. Their beats are a song of their own. Sometimes, just deciding the medium the story will be first created in/for is a chapter in the writing process, a movement in the symphony.
This is true even when the pounding is too much.
(Note: woke up with throbbing headache. The walk to subway and climb up multiple flights of stairs to the aboveground platform did not help this. But it is a good example of how seemingly mundane thongs influence the expansion and expression of ideas, how they twist and manipulate the direction and flavor of a storie’s creation and it’s individual themes in a given scene. That’s part of the adventure of creating too. It’s also a historical record of the writer. It reveals intimate details about the writer in the words itself – yet strangely anonymously. It’s kinda like being a ghost and whispering in someones ear. They know, but they don’t REALIZE. It tickles me.)
Um, the massive heads combined with poor typing on my phone, the early hour and unfortunate autocorrect assumptions apparently mangled (humorists) some of what I typed above. Oops. Sorry. I hope you van extrapolate my intentions and can forgive me considering the situation and that I’m about to go underground and lose connection for half an hour.)
Randi- auto correct is great but not perfect! Too funny:)
I write because it is something that I know I can do well, and I enjoy it. It takes me out of the everyday hassle of living and any problems that I have. I also do it to put out the ideas in my head to adults and children, and to educate people/children telling them there is hope out there to do things.
Julie- you said it so well “It takes me out of the everyday hassle of living and any problems that I have.” It is a fun productive form of escape isn’t it?
It certainly is. Esp when I am writing my romantic magical realism stories, which I have started to do.
Yes it is. Esp when I am writing my romantic magical realism stories, which I am working on now.
We all need a little escape from reality – and writers can create their own worlds on paper!:)
Dean Koontz said (paraphrase), “The moment inspiration strikes, and an unexpected idea is gifted to the writer, is the moment our Creator steps into our writing. That’s when you know it’s going to be a really great story.”
The first time God put his finger on my keyboard happened last summer. I was two months into my writing journey. I will never forget the chill bumps and how much it added to the story, in such an unexpected way. That feeling is like a drug. I’ve been absolutely hooked ever since.
Dean Koontz also said, “If your writing is about seeking and understanding life, yourself, your talent, success is a side effect.”
Whether I am ever blessed with a contract at one of the Big 6, I am already blessed through my writing.
Alex- I love the quotes you had of dean Koontz (one of my favorite authors) Thank you:)
I write because my day job is really intense and I have to see a lot of the dark side of life. My non-fiction work is to help people solve some of those problems, but in my fiction I write about heroes, demons, magical places, and ordinary people who find extraordinary ways to deal with their problems.
Anna- we can live (and solve problems) vicariously through our heroes heroines and it is so wonderful:)
I write because there’s something ingrained in my DND that says I must. After 30 years of writing, not writing and writing again, arguing with the non-writer to tell her she needs to write, I’ve come to the conclusion, I must write regardless of what ever else happens in the world. I am a writer first. When I write, I am a better mom, a better daughter, a better sister, a better person. Through writing, I feel things I can’t otherwise feel. The blood of every being in my stories flows through my veins, and whether they be good or bad, I sense a connection to them. I understand people and the world better because of this.
No writing numbs my senses to the world and everyone in it.
Diane- oh you said it so well and I feel the same! “I must write regardless of what ever else happens in the world. I am a writer first. When I write, I am a better mom, a better daughter, a better sister, a better person.”
I write because I have to…it’s just that simple for me.
If, for some rare reason, I don’t get my new pages written for the day, I actually feel anxious and as if I’m ready to burst. It’s that intense of a need for me.
At the same time, it’s a kind of instant euphoria the moment I complete my pages for the day.
Creativity is like water to me. And creativity in a variety of mediums too. I write. I paint and draw. I do theater, both on stage and set design work. I sing. Dance. Support artists of all forms. And the list goes on.
My muses are my BFFs, and rarely a day goes by that I don’t treat them to ample playtime!
DD- I love all the avenues you have for your creative muses. As you do, I also feel anxious if I do not complete pages for the day. Writing is such a creative outlet and such a part of who I am too.
I write because I’m a story teller. To me it feels natural, like breathing. I so agree, Lois. No one title can define who we are.
Elizabeth- you are right- all of us wear many many titles.
Gosh to be honest it’s a creative release from my demanding day gig
and like taking a mini-vacation in my mind of the one area in my crazy busy life I can control.
LM- too funny- writing is like taking a mini vacation:)
Hi Lois, I agree with everything you said about feeling compelled to write. It is also, like you said, who I am. I feel so lucky to have found my passion. Like D. D., I do feel a tremendous amount of gratification when I finish my wordcount for the day. I also feel anxious if I have to skip a day or two because I start to lose the flow of my story and it takes a while to get that flow back!
Theresa- it is so nice to find what you want to do in life- isn’t it great?
Writing is my drug. I live an addictive substance-abuse free life: Don’t smoke, don’t drink, don’t even drink coffee. But I have a wild imagination that needs to cut loose and find expression somehow. I get irritable when I don’t write! There’s something psychologically and emotionally calming about writing for me. It’s a buzz, and I’m addicted.
Forrest- you are so right writing is a great fun drug- and legal too:)
I also spent a long time supressing my desire to write, to be creative. I looked for so many things to fill the void, most of them time wasters. Now that I call myself a writer, now that believe I AM a writer, it’s like coming home. It feels natural and right and I don’t know why I fought it or ignored it.
Christina,believing you are a writer is so important-. It is all about knowing who you are and projecting that to the world:)
I’ve been writing since I could write. When I look back, it seems as though stories were building up in my head until I had the coordination to form letters and string them together, then they began to pour out.
Ellen- how wonderful that your found your true calling at such a young age. Happy writing!