" Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation." —Graham Greene
"Your writing voice is the deepest possible reflection of who you are." —Meg Rosoff
"Every story I create, creates me. I write to create myself." —Octavia E. Butler
"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you." —Ray Bradbury
"Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open." —Natalie Goldberg
"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart." —William Wordsworth
"Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go." —E. L. Doctorow
"Writing, to me, is simply thinking through my fingers." —Isaac Asimov
"I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn." —Anne Frank
"I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking, what I'm looking at, what I see and what it means. What I want and what I fear." —Joan Didion
"And the idea of just wandering off to a café with a notebook and writing and seeing where that takes me for awhile is just bliss." —J.K. Rowling
Recently I was talking with my younger sister about her SAT scores. She was upset that her highest score was in the writing section and expressed concern that many colleges tend to pay less attention to the writing score and some even ask to see only the applicant's reading and math results. After talking to my sister and reflecting on my own college application experience, this angered me. Why is writing considered less important than other skills or knowledge sets?
I think writing is more important than the way in which modern society treats it. Now, of course, as a writer, I am biased, but I have many reasons to support my belief.
First of all, historically, writing has been key to human survival. Because of writing, we are able to discover things about our ancestors and previous human experiences. We learn from written works of the past, including novels and uncovered old letters sent between friends.
Despite what the college application process implies, writing is evermore important in today's society. "Writing is thinking. To write well is to think clearly," says prized American author and historian David McCullough. "That's why it's so hard." If writing displays one's ability to think clearly, then shouldn't writing be deemed more important by colleges? In my high school English classes, we were always told that the goal of the class was to improve our critical thinking and analytical skills. These are surely skills that are considered of significance in college, and even more importantly, in the real world workplace. So why is it that English majors and people who want to write are often scorned for it? Being a good writer demonstrates the ability to think well and clearly, which is of utmost importance, in my opinion. Someone who can write well will be capable of performing a variety of jobs, as being able to think, write and communicate is an advantage in practically any field one may chose to enter.
Not only does writing help in the professional world, but it is also good for you as an individual. As pointed out by several authors in the quotes above, there's something magical about writing. Writing allows one to be creative. It enables you to express yourself without having to physically speak the words. It helps release emotion and reflect on life. Writing is a way of escaping reality and using your imagination. Writing is a method of self-exploration as well as a means of observing the universe. Gliding a pen tip across a piece of paper is freedom, freedom to write whatever your heart and mind desire.
I am who I am because of my love of writing. Once I started writing frequently, I became much more in touch with my thoughts, myself and the world around me. Writing makes me happy, and I truly believe it has something to give to everyone. You don't have to be a renowned author or poet in order to enjoy or benefit from writing.
If you don't write , I encourage you to start. Take a few minutes each day to jot down a few thoughts on a piece of paper. Write poems. Write short stories. Perhaps begin writing in a journal every night. Even if it's just a couple of phrases strung together, it's more than a blank page, and you'll be more of a person than you are now because of it. Discover the treasure of writing and relish it.
