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

1. I’ve always had a knack for it.
2. Teachers and family encouraged me to keep it up.
3. I communicate better in writing than I do in speaking.
4. I daydream too much not to write it down.
5. Writing is how I clear my head.
6. I love the feel of a pen in my hand.
7. I love the feel of a keyboard under my fingers even more.
8. I want to feel in control of language, even though I also believe it’s the number one deterrent to communication.
9. Someone has to fill up all the notebooks stores sell. May as well be me.
10. I have a desire to be viewed as an intellectual, and writing scratches that itch.
11. I like to express emotions in terms of the synesthesia they inspire.
12. I love proving to money-hungry jerks with logical careers that writing is a thing you can earn money for.
13. I enjoy breaking all the rules your English teacher taught you.
14. I can’t just turn off my brain after the workday is over unless I write.
15. I think writing is a gift from the Universe, so I have to share it.
16. Without writing, I literally have no idea what my hobbies would be.
17. I write because if I don’t, I get super depressed.
18. 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.
19. I believe I’m smarter than 95% of the population, and writing reaffirms this. (NO APOLOGIES.)
20. I write because I don’t remember a time when I didn’t want to write.
21. Sometimes inspiration bashes me over the head like an avalanche, and I have to.
22. 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.
23. Writing is my calling. It’s my higher purpose. It’s why I’m on this planet.
24. Because people automatically think I’m interesting when I tell them I’m a writer. #sovain
25. I write because I empathize with a lot of people, and I want to give voice to the feelings this empathy brings me.
26. 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.)
27. I like sharing ideas with a broad range of people.
28. I read Ramona Quimby, Age 8 in the second grade and decided I was going to be a writer. (Thanks, Beverly Cleary!)
29. I write because it’s often like picking off a scab and digging around in the pus to find what’s causing the problem.
30. I have stylistic intentions for my commas, and believe parentheses are like hugging your words.
31. Writing lets me take stock of moments and record them.
32. I want closure for so many things, and writing is the only way to get closure in a lot of situations.
33. Because I want my thoughts to resonate with someone.
34. I write to share my experiences with others.
35. Because I literally have no idea what people do with their time if they’re not writing.
36. I write because some day I want novel writing to be my day job.
37. I write because you can’t name another Persian Mexican Native American writer that’s your favorite.
38. Because writing is fun when I’m manic.
39. Because writing is life-saving when I’m down.
40. And finally, because 200 years from now, people will know my name. It’s all about the infamy.

200 years from now, people will know my name. #amwriting Click To Tweet