Why I Write

Every serious writer faces the question “Why do I write?” at some point in his or her career.  In writing this blog I came across it merely as a matter of course.  I have been writing in some fashion all my life and cannot remember a time after I was six years old when I was not thinking in stories.  In those early days I wrote because I was a child filled with wonder at life, enthralled by the magic of story-telling.  In later years, middle and high school, I wrote for the sake of imagination and because I just couldn’t help myself.  My high school years particularly were ones of intense introspection through writing: Who was I?  Why was I who I was?  Each and every character in my little stories were versions of myself.  I suppose I was trying to “find myself.”

The college years rolled around and my writing took the form of required essays, articles, short stories, research papers and senior theses while my imagination took a back seat. Torn between the journalism and creative writing classes of my junior year I found myself stymied by the vacillating quality of my own writing voice.  For my journalism classes I was required to be short and to the point, cutting out every unnecessary word and brutally reducing most imagery and creativity from my writing. Short story writing classes, however, demanded the utmost from my imagination: scenes, characters, conflicts, plot lines.  All must be clear, real, and vibrant to the reader.  I’m not ashamed to say my creative writing suffered at this time.

Moving toward graduation I was inundated with research and senior thesis papers.  Fond were my (now distant) memories of sitting in the campus coffee shop and writing prose poems from the very deepest recess of my heart.  I graduated and moved on into full time ministry with my church where all my writing took the form of bible study outlines, discipleship pamphlets and monthly newsletters.

In recent years I’ve moved on into professional copy writing (for a marketing firm) and writing for the web.  I still miss the creative years, when fetters of school or financial obligations didn’t hinder the creative spark.  When Muse could easily ignite inside my mind and heart the germ of a beautiful idea.  I am thankful, however, for the years of varied experience I have writing.  Journalism taught me to cut away unnecessary baggage, research taught me to be accurate, copy writing taught me to produce and do it quickly, and writing for the web is teaching me to be relevant to the culture at hand.

So, at this point in my life I have come to seriously evaluate the question, “Why do I write?”  After thinking for the past few days, here are my answers as they currently stand:

1) I write to know.  Many times the writing process actually helps me to understand the significance of certain events or patterns in my life.  While I was writing An Introduction to Honolulu I was struck by how many things Brian and I have learned through living here.  It has enabled me to really embrace and appreciate those lessons.

2) I write to better myself.  A gift not practiced is soon lost. A great book or other piece of writing is rarely the first produced by an author (with the exception of some, like JK Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone).  Great writing is the product of practice, and I need to keep it up to improve.  I can sometimes actually feel my brain expanding (ha! you know what I mean) when I write, especially if what I’m writing takes a lot of concentration and mental exercise.

3) I write to tell.  You may have noticed that below my name in the upper left corner of this page is the phrase “Write the Truth.”  I’m committed to write in a way that reveals the truth about life, God, eternity, human character, suffering, etc.  I simply want to write the truth.  Even through fictional narrative, which I firmly believe is one of the best ways to reveal truth.

4) I write because I love to write.  In my first post on this blog I said, “There’s an inch inside my breast that I just can’t reach without writing.”  It’s true.  I simply must write.

Finally, if those of us who are committed to truth do not write, others will.  Cyberspace, the world and human minds will be filled with communication from those who know nothing of God’s love and divine intervention in the person of Jesus Christ.  My pen is surrendered.