Why do I write?

Last night I took the time to sit down and do some yearly reflection into my own personal life. I reflected on my first semester at college, I reflected on 2017 in general. But after all of that I took the time to ask myself a really important question. Why am I a Writer?

For a little context, I’ve been writing fiction and poetry for a little over eight years. Now, it is my major in College. As much as I love writing, many of the other classes I took and my own hobbies were pulling me in their direction. I wondered if writing was really the thing I wanted to do.

I never really took the time to ask myself this. It was a rather nerve-racking question to ask myself.

In the end, I filled up an entire page on why I write in a bulleted list. I would go through every single minuscule point on that list, but for now, I’ll give you a generalized version of my own journaling prompt.

Basically, I write because nothing has ever truly given me the purpose and the inspiration like writing. Writing has always been there for me when everything in the world seemed hard, it’s a way to escape it all or a way to sit down with what’s going on and dissect it like a mad scientist. I don’t think I could do anything else with my life besides writing. I was never good at math or science, and as much as I was asked as a kid, I never wanted to be a doctor like my father. In my eyes, this is the only thing I was ever really good at.

I love writing poetry. I love crafting art with the English language and telling it to people so that they will laugh or cry.

I love writing fiction. I love crafting my own worlds for myself to live in for a while. I love making things up as I go and becoming family to the characters in which I create.

But, in the end, writing is my best friend through it all. Whether it be sitting at my laptop for hours on end, crafting a story for the masses or writing poems in my journal in my favorite chair at home. Writing is the friend that I have gone to lean on time and time again.

If you are a creative writing major like me, or you’re just a writer. I ask that you take the time to sit down and ask yourself this same question. Grab your notebook and your favorite pen, turn to your next available page and write the question Why do I write? At the top of your page.

Then, you must dig deep, and list your reasons. Every single one no matter how little it sounds. List on that notebook page.

Once you’re finished, look it over again and again. But not just today — when you’re struggling for inspiration, when you’re having thoughts of quitting on your manuscript again or you just need a refresher. Look this over. Remember why you started writing in the first place. Add to the list as time goes on and make sure that this list is handy at all times. Why? Because everyone needs to remember why they started in the first place.