I’ve always had the urge to write, at least as long as I can remember. I used to have a spiral-bound notebook, covered with magazine pictures of cats, that I would take around with me on the weekends. In particular, I remember riding my bicycle along the side of our house, down to the street and around, all with this notebook in the basket on the front. Every time an idea struck me – which was pretty often – I’d put on the brakes, lean forward and pull the notebook out, and write the idea in my notebook.
Back in 2001, when I was involved with some early writing websites, I wrote a piece about why I write. It’s a bit gooey and sentimental in parts, but the highlights are still absolutely true today:
Why do I write? I write because it’s better than not writing. Simple, really, but perhaps it deserves some further explanation.
So, try to imagine not writing. No creative outlet (unless you’re one of those most irritating people who have multiple talents and can paint or dance or sing if they choose not to write). No true freedom of expression, where you really can say what you want. No chance to put all those different words together in any way you choose, to create the most incredible multitude of emotions, understandings and debates.
Writing is being alive. In fact for me, it’s incredibly hard to really explain why I write because it is something I have always done and always wanted to do. It was not a conscious decision like “I want to play the clarinet” (something I tried but didn’t have as much success with as writing). Instead, it is much more like, “Breathing is a sensible thing to do to stay alive.” I guess I’m saying, writing is breathing.
I completely relate to the writing / breathing connection, and am sure I may have even said or written something along those lines before. I keep happening upon recent posts all around the web from a variety of bloggers on why he or she writes, and I am struck with the necessity or urgency everyone feels. Maybe this is some way of the fates telling me that I should be writing on this very topic.
This was an interesting and lovely post! While I don’t know you (at all — I even just discovered the blog today), I adore that image of you as a younger self toting around the notebook covered with kitties and filled with your scrawling and scribbling. I will make sure to check back.
.-= Julie´s last blog ..The Experimental Grab-Bag: An Exercise =-.
Julie, glad you came across my blog and liked the post! It’s true, I do feel a real necessity to write, even though sometimes at the moment I’m doing it I couldn’t actually say I’m enjoying it – sometimes it’s just a hard slog – but I keep at it and can’t seem to stop.