Why do I write?

I have always liked words. I remember constantly asking my Mom what does this word mean, what does that word mean. With 5 of us running around driving her crazy, her usual response was, look it up in the dictionary. I would go get the huge red Merriam dictionary (not sure if it was Merriam Webster at that time in the 60s), and sit for hours reading all kinds of words. As an aside, I always thought it was kind of funny when I would ask her how to spell something and she would say the same thing, look it up in the dictionary. But how could I do that when I didn’t know how to spell it!!?? (thus, the lot of extra reading).

Anyway, I wrote stories and poetry from an early age. I even won both the prose and poetry contest in 8^th grade. (I’ll have to go find those again. They are probably terrible, but for a 13 year old, maybe not too bad! I do remember the story was about a bull fighter, and the poem was something flowery.)

I have also been an avid reader, once reading through the entire shelf of kids sci fi in a summer. And, of course, I would read the Lord of the Rings (including the Hobbit) every year as well.

Although I didn’t start novel writing until much later in my life, I used to write little poems for the Wisconsin Electric and the Xerox newsletters when I worked there. Some were silly, some were pretty dark, but people seemed to enjoy them.

So, why do I write, other than I always have? Putting words down on paper, moving them around, getting them just right is kind of like making music, or jigsaw puzzles. I like to see the disjointed pieces come together in a meaningful pattern. And I enjoyed sharing my thoughts. I think I like to surprise the reader or touch them in some way.

But, more than anything, I write for me. I write what I would want to read, sharing thoughts with myself by seeing them on paper (or on a screen these days!).

I tend to write my best poetry when I am feeling a deep emotion. The words connect me with the human condition and somehow they come from that same unknown place.

My novels/short stories I write because I love to read them. Once they are on paper, they don’t seem to have come from me anymore. They become their own creations that I can love (or hate) just as much as my readers.

I may go days or weeks without anything creative leaving my pen (or keyboard), but I am always drawn back, sooner or later, to poetry, prose or just random thoughts in my journal.

So I write. Mostly just to write. And if I can share a little of my insanity with like-minded souls, so much the better!