A few weeks ago, I was asked a simple question. It was four words, and it honestly could have been answered in a few different ways with a few different meanings. It wasn't a complicated question or even one that would cause most people to be introspective, but it resonated with me, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.
Why do you write?
When I was first asked the question, I thought the obvious answer was just because I love it. It's something that is fun. It's therapeutic. I enjoy it. But then I thought about it a little more. I do love writing, but that's not why I do it. I don't just sit down at my desk with my computer or in my bed with one of my notebooks and let words flow just because I love it. I love when I'm writing and love what I create, but that isn't why I take the time to sit down and put pen to paper or fingers to keys.
I write because I have thoughts and words that need to go somewhere because if they stay in my head, they will cause me to explode. Sometimes, I can't control my thoughts. I can't control the things that are circulating in my brain. So I pull out my notebook, and I write. I usually write poetry when I need to empty my head. Writing poetry is freeing for me. There is no right or wrong way to write a poem. I can write a few lines and summarize my thoughts. I can tell a story. I can write rubbish. It doesn't matter. It gets my thoughts out, and more often than not, the result is a poem that I'm proud of.But that's not the only reason that I write.
I write because I have stories that I want to tell. When I'm sitting in class or talking to my friends, ideas for stories and characters pop into my head. I just know that I need to write these. Nothing is more exciting to me than having a character in my head and knowing exactly how their life will turn out and knowing that I get to share them with the world. Writing stories is a creative place for me. I can create new worlds, new people, and new ideas. I can create and share my stories with the universe. But that's not the only reason that I write.
I write to connect to people. Sometimes the words that are circling in my mind don't come out in a conversation the way that they do on paper. That's when I need to write them. I need to talk to people. But I need to think before I talk, and conversations go faster than I can keep up with. I need to write things down so they don't get jumbled up. I write so that I can talk to people far away from me. Writing Odyssey articles allows me to talk to people I've never met and to connect to them in ways I couldn't with just spoken words. But that's not the only reason that I write.
If I'm being honest, I can't explain all of the reasons that I write. Some are easy to identify and some I just can't put into words. Regardless, I love writing. I can't imagine my life without it.