Throughout my time as a writer, I've been asked a few questions pretty much on repeat. Where do you get your inspiration from? How do you make the words flow like that? Did you base your characters off of real people in your life?
My favorite of these is, can I have a sneak peak? Closely followed by, I promise that I won't tell anyone. In my time as an author, I've been asked all sorts of crazy questions about my personal life and my finances. No one has ever asked, Why do you write?
The answer to that question is loaded as I write for a handful of various reasons. To start with, writing gives me an outlet that I don't believe I would have otherwise. When I'm feeling vastly overwhelmed and ready to break, I use that to fuel my writing. I let the feelings flow out and onto the page.
It's cathartic and helps to clear my headspace. It doesn't always make sense when I do this and it doesn't have to. I can scrap the whole piece as soon as I'm done with it or I can save it for a little bit later to reflect on the things that I wrote about.
Nine times out of ten the problem will end up being written on that page at some point. It's also a great way to vent out issues without potentially hurting anyone's feelings in the process. You can address issues you may feel you have without actually addressing the person right away. This can help to make you more articulate in the actual confrontation or help you to realize that you don't need a confrontation to work out your issues.
Another reason that I write is that my head is spilling over with story and novel ideas. Even if the plots are full of holes, getting the ideas out helps to make room for better ideas. Part of writing is brainstorming and writing down your ideas helps with the process.
A separate part of this is that these ideas are books that I wish were already written. Constantly, an idea pops in of a book I'd love to read but it doesn't exist. What better way to ensure it exists than writing it yourself? One piece of solid writing advice I received was to write the book that you want to read.
Probably the most important reason that I write is to express myself. The real world is flawed and you don't always get to say what you would like to. Through writing, I'm better able to express the views that I have. I also find that through writing, I'm more articulate.
Public speaking has never been my forte. I stammer and my nerves shine through pretty clearly. Writing has given me an outlet to say what I need to say in a more confident way. I write because writing gives me a confident, intelligent voice that I know I wouldn't have without it.
