Why do you write?

[Dan Djurdjevic]

Two quotes (from anonymous sources) struck me recently:

I write because I must.

You aren't a writer unless you write every day.

What are your reasons for writing? Do you agree with the second statement?

[Michael Brown]

Definitely agree with the first statement, and partially agree with the second. And it's in this way: I don't think you prove yourself by physically taking up pen in hand every single day, but I think we are always, always working on a story, for which if we are lucky enough to find a break in the quotidian routine, we get to jot down notes and later flesh them out into the stories they were meant to be. I guess in a figurative sense one could say a writer writes every day.
Of course, some of us (and here the the commenter points at Dan) actually do seem to WRITE every day.

[Dan Djurdjevic]

I agree that one shouldn't feel the need to "prove oneself" by writing every day. I stumbled upon that quote and was immediately defensive; but then it occurred to me that as it turns out I do write almost every day. Like Brad, I get ansty if I don't, so I end up "finding" time even if it is late at night. But I'd hate someone to "take it against me" if I missed a day (or week or month) here or there (as we all do inevitably)!

Indeed, my family often get annoyed with me for disappearing to write - and I have to keep finding new ways of carving out the time.

In the end I interpret the second comment in light of the first; it expresses the author's sense of compulsion to write.

[Laurita]

Michael took away my exact words. Even if you are not physically writing, you are mentally writing - gathering tidbits for stories, plotting, outlining, weaving phrases. The latter, I think, defines a writer more so than taking pen in hand every day.

[Brad Rose]

I write every day. I have to. I get antsy if I don't write. I also write for a living--not fiction of course--but I must write in order to make a living.

The last two years have permitted me an opportunity to indulge in this luxury of creative writing. I am able to intersperse moments of writing amid my workday--so I am very lucky.

Why write? I write for a variety of reasons, most of which I'm afraid will sound pretentious. I do however think that writing, creative writing, allows one to get at aspects of experience and consciousness, that daily living doesn't allow us to access or in some cases, to even acknowledge. I write, in part, to find out what I think and who I am and who I am not. It allows me to explore others' lives--characters' lives---that are VERY different from my own real life. I love that my characters, even if they are a bit cartoonish, have lives and biographies that are so very different from my own. I enjoy finding out what they will say and do. I enjoy the unpredictability of their behavior and their predicaments.

I also write to discover how "it all turns out in the end."

[alisa rynay haller]

I write because that was the path I chose for myself when I was 3. Unfortunately, after years of abuse I locked my Muse in a closet so she wouldn't get broken too. My BFF Quin Brownn slapped me silly (figuratively) and made me start up again. I bless her everyday for the courage she has given me. I now write because it's less messy than suicide.
Smooches Q.

[Jeanette Cheezum]

I write because I love it. I had to wait along time before I had the luxury of taking the characters out of my head and spilling them onto the keyboard. Now, I pray that I will always have the time.

[Jelena]

It is who I am, what I must do, what defines me. I do not know if I chose it; it has always felt inevitable. I started writing my first novel when I was six. I have a block from time to time; it has happened that it held me for years, but the stories and characters are always bubbling inside me, living a life on their own, waiting for a good day to come out. Wait... Quin, that's my reason, too - the voices!

[Joseph Kalitz]

I was never driven to write until recently. Being confined to the walls of boredom that surrounds the FOB here in Iraq leaves very little to do. The war here is done and it's just putting the last little touches to our job here. This leaves a lot of free time. Movies get old, I fall asleep when I read for more than an hour straight, and video games are getting boring. Despite being surrounded with good friends, after months on end living with them, I still find myself alone, with just my thoughts, ideas, and imagination. So I write.

Weird and ironic story on how it began... I started writing my book, and I asked my best friend back home for some ideas, suggestions, and feedback.... Turns out, a year ago he started writing a book (until he became overwhelmed with work and school) that had a very similar plot and the same name for one of the main characters, Lilly. So through endless emails and instant messenger conversations, we have a majority of the book done.

[Bob Clay]

I write purely for my own enjoyment. I like to tell a story, and of course, in the main, if you write, you can make it up as you go.

I don't think I agree with the second statement, but then, perhaps you write in one sense without realising it. For example I have kept logs in most of the jobs I have done (something you get into the habit of at sea). A new guy at our place wanted to install some admin software and I told him to search through the log for the last time I'd installed it on someone's workstation. I heard him chuckle and went over to read the entry I'd entered about 3 years ago ... it read .... 'First take the CDROM out of the box, and resist the urge to pee on it.'

It is a particularly awkward piece of software ... which is why I wrote that ...and it makes the log a more interesting read. Another entry was 'Schoolkid stuffed chewing gum into floppy drive. Replaced drive then broke the little f**kers neck.' (fortunately, the log is only read by those of us who do the job).
:-)

[KAWFEEEE!]

Exactly. "I write purely for my own enjoyment." ...the only "sane" answer so far.

Not implying that the other ones are not good. We all have our motivations. I especially like Ms 'solutely's reasoning,: "I write, therefore I am" ...broke.

[Dan Djurdjevic]

I'm fairly sure my reasons for writing aren't particularly sane!

[Jordan Faris]

I write to cure my own cynicism. When I write, I can almost harbor some pure illusions.
I don't agree on the second statement. Sometime sporadic binges breed true gems.