I write so that I can edit. I really enjoy the editing process. Cutting, pasting, reordering, word changes, changes of direction; that whole process of discovering the work that’s buried in the first draft. I’ve spent a year on a poem. Very difficult, very challenging but very satisfying. That said, if I could get there without writing that first draft I would. That S#!+s hard.
I write because I believe a good story, well told, can improve the human condition. I am drawn to characters who’ve been kept in the shadows and deserve their due, especially women.
“Can you imagine?” my great-grandmother used to say constantly. She was my north star. She traveled the world until she was eighty. Saw so much and still found things she could barely imagine. I think that was the kernel for me. Now, decades later, I think I write to try and find a foothold in my own mind.
Writing is shaping: This memory, not this one. This thought, this metaphor—no, here’s a better one. The editor doesn’t like that line—cut it. Revise the piece, it goes back in. What stays? What goes?
Mark Salzman described writing as “the medium through which I try to make sense out of life." At first, I dwell on the sense part. Until it hits me that the most important word in the sentence is try.
When I was younger, I would've said that I write to escape but I think it's truer that I write (and revise) to expand. Thank you for this prompt and all the podcasts and newsletters. They so often encourage me to articulate thoughts that have been lurking in my mind un -written or -spoken.
I write to calm down. To get all the stories out from underneath my skin to the page. Then I can see my ancestors before me. I can describe their faces and their voices, the high pitch cackle of my grandmother and great aunts…I write to show them the way home.
I heard someone say I don't know what I think until i write it down. I use writing to emote, to figure my thoughts out. And I write fiction so I always have story pieces and dialog and people talking. it doesn't go away until I write it down. Lastly, I'm vain about my words and I enjoy my own work. I write to read me.
Morrison says the second beer is to confirm the satisfaction of the first, whereas the third is just because its there - I'm like 2.5 beers into all my writing projects. Feels good!
But I kind of mean it, actually. Not the part about painting, but the "what else you gonna do?" part. There isn't anything else to do. There isn't (for me at least) any other way to be alive. It doesn't feel much like a choice. Or, I should say, I didn't make the choice on the one hand, to be a writer. The muses or the universe or whoever bestowed writing upon me. But, on the other hand, I choose, and have to choose, every day to be a writer. To actually write, yes, but also, to see the world as a writer does. Valuing all, each person and each circumstance, as worthy of being seen. The more I write, the more empathetic I become. I think, I hope, that's a good answer to a good question. Certainly the answer is never "because it pays the bills." Ha. Or "because it's a painless hobby." Damn, no way, writing hurts like hell. Anyway. I appreciate the question!
It's true. I know that I get quite tweaky when I am not writing or can't in the moment. But not doing it, to your point, somehow degrades my essence. I'm not sure I wholly subscribe to the notion that each person kinda gets their one thing to do in life. But I do know that not writing would be pretty unbearable. And the bonus there is that being a writer in a way means being all things, trying all things, seeing all things. It sounds heady but as you know it doesn't feel that way when you're agonizing over a single word for like fifteen minutes when you know there's A WHOLE REST OF THE NOVEL YET TO GO.
I write so that I can edit. I really enjoy the editing process. Cutting, pasting, reordering, word changes, changes of direction; that whole process of discovering the work that’s buried in the first draft. I’ve spent a year on a poem. Very difficult, very challenging but very satisfying. That said, if I could get there without writing that first draft I would. That S#!+s hard.
Lol that's real work!
Because I can't build a table.
Hahaha fair!
(I write songs) I write to attempt creating something that moves me like my favorite writers do.
This is such a worthy goal, Patricia.
I write because I believe a good story, well told, can improve the human condition. I am drawn to characters who’ve been kept in the shadows and deserve their due, especially women.
This is beautiful, Elisa. Thank you for it. 🌺
“Can you imagine?” my great-grandmother used to say constantly. She was my north star. She traveled the world until she was eighty. Saw so much and still found things she could barely imagine. I think that was the kernel for me. Now, decades later, I think I write to try and find a foothold in my own mind.
Writing is shaping: This memory, not this one. This thought, this metaphor—no, here’s a better one. The editor doesn’t like that line—cut it. Revise the piece, it goes back in. What stays? What goes?
Mark Salzman described writing as “the medium through which I try to make sense out of life." At first, I dwell on the sense part. Until it hits me that the most important word in the sentence is try.
I write to try. Again and again.
I couldn't agree more with everything you say here, Rebecca. I'm going to keep trying. Your great grandmother sounds amazing.
When I was younger, I would've said that I write to escape but I think it's truer that I write (and revise) to expand. Thank you for this prompt and all the podcasts and newsletters. They so often encourage me to articulate thoughts that have been lurking in my mind un -written or -spoken.
Thank you so much for participating, Win! I appreciate you.
I write to calm down. To get all the stories out from underneath my skin to the page. Then I can see my ancestors before me. I can describe their faces and their voices, the high pitch cackle of my grandmother and great aunts…I write to show them the way home.
Beautiful!🌺
Thanks 😀
You're very welcome 🙏🏿
It puts me in a peaceful place, even when I'm suffering over it.
Same. I always feel better.
I heard someone say I don't know what I think until i write it down. I use writing to emote, to figure my thoughts out. And I write fiction so I always have story pieces and dialog and people talking. it doesn't go away until I write it down. Lastly, I'm vain about my words and I enjoy my own work. I write to read me.
Yes, DL! Writing is how I "show my math" too. I don't know what I think until I write about it for a while.
I can’t not write
Same same.
I write because it helps get the stories out.
Hear hear!
Morrison says the second beer is to confirm the satisfaction of the first, whereas the third is just because its there - I'm like 2.5 beers into all my writing projects. Feels good!
Well said, Adam! Morrison knows. Congratulations on 2.5.
What else you gonna do, paint? Come on..
Right! lol
But I kind of mean it, actually. Not the part about painting, but the "what else you gonna do?" part. There isn't anything else to do. There isn't (for me at least) any other way to be alive. It doesn't feel much like a choice. Or, I should say, I didn't make the choice on the one hand, to be a writer. The muses or the universe or whoever bestowed writing upon me. But, on the other hand, I choose, and have to choose, every day to be a writer. To actually write, yes, but also, to see the world as a writer does. Valuing all, each person and each circumstance, as worthy of being seen. The more I write, the more empathetic I become. I think, I hope, that's a good answer to a good question. Certainly the answer is never "because it pays the bills." Ha. Or "because it's a painless hobby." Damn, no way, writing hurts like hell. Anyway. I appreciate the question!
I wholeheartedly agree with all you say here, Paul. I think it actually hurts worse NOT to write!
It's true. I know that I get quite tweaky when I am not writing or can't in the moment. But not doing it, to your point, somehow degrades my essence. I'm not sure I wholly subscribe to the notion that each person kinda gets their one thing to do in life. But I do know that not writing would be pretty unbearable. And the bonus there is that being a writer in a way means being all things, trying all things, seeing all things. It sounds heady but as you know it doesn't feel that way when you're agonizing over a single word for like fifteen minutes when you know there's A WHOLE REST OF THE NOVEL YET TO GO.