Have you heard of the 40 Reasons “Why Do You Write?” Challenge? Bryan Hutchinson over at Positive Writer posted about it on Sunday. Because I’m super defiant and love a good challenge, I thought I’d take a whack at it. Plus, I really wanted to take stock of why I write.
Without further ado, here are the 40 reasons why I write.
40 Reasons Why I Write (Thanks, @ADDerWORLD!) Click To Tweet- I’ve always had a knack for it.
- Teachers and family encouraged me to keep it up.
- I communicate better in writing than I do in speaking.
- I daydream too much not to write it down.
- Writing is how I clear my head.
- I love the feel of a pen in my hand.
- I love the feel of a keyboard under my fingers even more.
- I want to feel in control of language, even though I also believe it’s the number one deterrent to communication.
- Someone has to fill up all the notebooks stores sell. May as well be me.
- I have a desire to be viewed as an intellectual, and writing scratches that itch.
- I like to express emotions in terms of the synesthesia they inspire.
- I love proving to money-hungry jerks with logical careers that writing is a thing you can earn money for.
- I enjoy breaking all the rules your English teacher taught you.
- I can’t just turn off my brain after the workday is over unless I write.
- I think writing is a gift from the Universe, so I have to share it.
- Without writing, I literally have no idea what my hobbies would be.
- I write because if I don’t, I get super depressed.
- Writing is like a puzzle I want to solve. I set out to make a paragraph, and I have to figure out where the pieces fit.
- I believe I’m smarter than 95% of the population, and writing reaffirms this. (NO APOLOGIES.)
- I write because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write.
- Sometimes inspiration bashes me over the head like an avalanche, and I have to.
- Even if a piece I’ve written gets rejected, I don’t feel like I want to quit. Writing is the only thing I never want to quit.
- Writing is my calling. It’s my higher purpose. It’s why I’m on this planet.
- Because people automatically think I’m interesting when I tell them I’m a writer. #sovain
- I write because I empathize with a lot of people, and I want to give voice to the feelings this empathy brings me.
- I write because I can understand the motives of a person within knowing them for an hour. (Thanks, mean girls from my childhood. Your guileless transparency was a great primer.)
- I like sharing ideas with a broad range of people.
- I read Ramona Quimby, Age 8 in the second grade and decided I was going to be a writer. (Thanks, Beverly Cleary!)
- I write because it’s often like picking off a scab and digging around in the pus to find what’s causing the problem.
- I have stylistic intentions for my commas, and believe parentheses are like hugging your words.
- Writing lets me take stock of moments and record them.
- I want closure for so many things, and writing is the only way to get closure in a lot of situations.
- Because I want my thoughts to resonate with someone.
- I write to share my experiences with others.
- Because I literally have no idea what people do with their time if they’re not writing.
- I write because some day I want novel writing to be my day job.
- I write because you can’t name another Persian Mexican Native American writer that’s your favorite.
- Because writing is fun when I’m manic.
- Because writing is life-saving when I’m down.
- And finally, because 200 years from now, people will know my name. It’s all about the infamy.
I read the first five on your list and then had to stop because I decided I needed to do one of these for myself 🙂 I’ll be back later!
Yes, you totally need to to do this for yourself. I love the idea of it. Kind of mad I didn’t think of it sooner…
Okay, done and now I’ve read yours!
“I write because I can understand the motives of a person within knowing them for an hour.”
I feel like this and empathy are some major reasons for me as well. Also it feels like some kind of superpower ?
It totally feels like a superpower, especially when you find yourself surrounded by people who can’t suss out anything about human nature.
I can relate to all of this! Especially 3, 4, 19, 20! And for me it was Emily of New Moon. I knew after reading those books that I wanted to be a writer.
Yes! I love that you have a book that did it for you. I think it would be really interesting to see what books drove each writer to write.
I really enjoyed how blunt and unapologetic you are with some of your reasons. I’m thinking that you WILL be remembered 200 years from now 😉
Thanks, Jathan. Your lips to god’s ears!
YASSSSSS.
#s 5 / 19 / 26 / 28 / 30 = faves, and 100% agree.
This is awesome. So glad I met you and get to keep up with you and your writing!!
Same! I always love when new badass writerly women are thrown into my life.