Why Do You Write?

To put my crazy thoughts on paper. Then I feel a little less crazy afterwards. Therapy. ( I don't write fiction btw)

I write because I find it harder and harder to recall all the good things/bad things and just things which have happened to me. If I hadn't been having blood pressure issues and on medication for some time for it, I'd be concerned about early onset Alzheimer's.

The most difficult question of them all - the one that I most want to answer and at the same time most dread answering. Why - because in doing so I will reveal my belief that I have something to say to the world and my fear that the only person that is truly listening is myself.

More pleasure than pain - in front of a screen with my thoughts knowing that occasionally I will be taken somewhere that is beyond my understanding.

in doing so I will reveal my belief that I have something to say to the world and my fear that the only person that is truly listening is myself. (Sam)
That's the most important person who needs to listen. When we stop listening to ourselves, I think it is a step in the wrong direction. Of course listening to all our noisy silly thoughts is distracting but if we are patient enough, some gems will appear and surprise even ourselves.

I only partly agree with PBW. Writing is a form of communication and although I take centre stage in the writing process the end result is for others as far as I am concerned.

I write first of all, out of self-interest. To address my own needs. To gain insight and understanding into myself. But as I improve and develop, I realise such introversion can help others. It helps me understand them too. It's a bit like those monks who meditate. Initially it seems like self-absorption and navel gazing, but the fruits are an understanding of the mind and then we realise the whole human race can have a "monkey mind."

I write because that is when I am most myself and least myself. I pick the subject from my mind and heart, I gather the words from my mind and ear, but I write from a stream that flows from beyond me or deep within me. I may hate to begin writing, I may love to have written, but I definitely live in the space between the two.