Why We Write

Writing is thinking organized. It is a record of thoughts, reflections, and imaginings. To write is to think out loud. To write well is to think out loud in a way that makes it clear (and entertaining) to you, the reader, what I am thinking. 

Who do I write for? Ostensibly it is for you but really it’s for me. I write to clarify my own thoughts. I look back at all I’ve written and I think, do I really want all of this to be read? To be known? Only that which might help others. Only that which truly illuminates. The art of writing is discernment. It’s knowing what is worth sharing. 

We put our names on things in order to prove to ourselves that we exist. We exist in our own minds until we externalize our thoughts and names and then we are made manifest. The first cave paintings were this. See us. We lived here. We died here. We could go back and read our writing and see ourselves. 

Being a writer means being a thinker who shares her/his thoughts. We are thinking creatures. We have language. We invented alphabets and words so that we might describe what we see and think and feel. Those words bounce around the echo chamber of our minds. Until we let them out. Until we share them. Writing is sometimes a way of quieting the mind and making sense of all that unfolds there. 

We write in order to share ourselves. We seem compelled to share ourselves. When we share ourselves we affirm our minds. Our thoughts clarify and we begin to make sense of all those feelings we experience. This whole blog is a desperate yawp, an external mind that helps me to understand myself. We write in order to understand ourselves. We share what we write in order to help others understand themselves. If the writing does not serve that purpose, it should not be shared. 

We write to authenticate our experience as humans inside of bodies. Here we are, in these bodies at this time, each of us feeling our own unique but relatable feelings, and we only have this one way of memorializing those experiences. Writing. An experience or a thought that is not written is ephemeral. Our writing outlives our bodies. Writing is, therefore, an attempt at immortality. Charles Dickens and Emily Dickenson will live for thousands of years, perhaps forever. 

We can all write because we can all think. Writing is thinking out loud. This is why we must read, out loud, everything we write before we decide if it’s worth sharing. If it makes sense and sounds good to our ears then there’s a good chance it will resonate with others. Only then can we be reasonably sure it will land. If our writing illuminates ourselves it has a chance to illuminate others. You are a writer if you take the time to routinely record your thoughts so they might be read and understood by yourself. You are a good writer if others can understand them too.