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Saturday, November 14, 2009

Why I Write


By Christine Thackeray

A friend sent me an interesting essay. In it a woman said that she writes because she can't draw. Her brother is an artist and in her heart she felt a need to describe the beauties of the Northwest in the autumn so she penned gorgeous lines which I'm not even going to try to imitate.

I read that and thought, "Wow, that's not why I write at all."

I write because I love people. I love stories and passions that drive action. I love coming to new epiphanies and seeing life from new perspectives once those lessons have been digested. I love seeing the flow of life in miniature and feeling that every difficulty has purpose and perhaps, I'm a little too impatient to wait for reality so I make it up myself.

I write because I have vivid dreams and more vivid imaginings. I write because I want to experience the past with the muscles and flesh on, not simply the bones that historians leave behind. I write because I want to reach to the future or maybe even change it a little.

And if I didn't write I would still dream and dance in my mind, but the moment I turned from those thoughts, they'd be gone forever. So I write to keep the crazy wonderful musings of mind alive just a little longer.

So my question to you is... Why so you write?

2 comments:

JoAnn Arnold said...

I write because something inside me sets the desire on fire and the imagination glows. Isn't it exciting to have that desire?

Don said...

I started writing because it was cheaper than making a movie and easier than starting a band.

It's the creative outlet that fit best right now, and it's really, really fun.