Why I Write

This is my second Thursday’s Children post. Today, I’m talking about the main inspiration behind my writing.

So.

I’ve been having a Dark Night of the Soul these last few days. First I felt overwhelmed by how much work I had to do, then I found out I had some serious revisions ahead of me that are going to take a lot longer than I had foreseen. I thought the book was in a certain place, but it turns out I was overestimating how ready it was to be sent out into the world. Suffice it to say, I’m bummed about that.

People say writers often go through the 5 stages of depression when they receive feedback, and I think that might be true. However, there are a ton of articles about writers and depression out there (here and here and here, for example), so I don’t feel the need to go through that here.  What I want to think about isn’t the negative side of writing, but the incredibly POSITIVE side of it, b/c I think we’ve all had enough sadness this past week.

My friend Juliana L. Brandt asked me the other day (in the midst of a lot of whining on my part) why I write. I was caught off guard by the question. Isn’t it obvious? I thought at first. It’s because…but then I didn’t really have an answer.

So I forced myself to figure out what it was, and then I wrote it down.

It wasn’t just that I loved “creating,” although I do (part of my answer was that I love the craft. Pushing a sentence to its limits, even if it sometimes breaks. I think there’s something magical there, something worth fighting for.
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But the bulk, the heart of the reason I write, is this:

I have a lot of friends and family that care about me, but I still feel alone sometimes. Writing helps me feel connected. It helps me feel like I’m part of a larger conversation, like I’m being heard and also hearing others.

And that can be summed up even more succinctly, I think, into something like:

I write because I want to connect with people.

I’m still not out of the post-feedback doldrums (hell, I haven’t even started revising yet), but I AM looking at my book with a renewed sense of purpose, which in turn has helped me reexamine what it is I’m trying to communicate with  my book. I’m happy about that.

So what about you? Why do you write?

Please let me know in the comments.

Oh, and guys? Thanks for listening. Love ya.