As my birthday present to myself this year, I enrolled in a creative writing online course through the continuing studies program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The first assignment was to answer the question: Why Do I Write?
I write.
I write to survive.
I write to understand.
For most, "why" they write is an easy answer. It fulfills a need, a desire. The "why" is harder to articulate for me. I have not considered writing in terms of "why," it has been an act, something I just do, something I have always done. A consistent action, time and again. Being forced to consider "why" adds weight, and a level of complexity that jumbles writing. It forces a purpose.
Reflecting for this assignment, forcing myself to consider "why," the answer reveals itself in one word: survival.
I have written to survive. Journals. Short stories. Sports articles. Methods of survival. Methods of processing what was happening. Methods of getting lost. Methods of providing purpose so the day had meaning.
Survival now requires understanding. I write to understand. But logic only gets a person so far. One can apply reason, and logic, to anything, yet miss everything because reason and logic are only a part of any experience. Emotion, feeling, is the other part.
I write to feel. Filters, logic and reason, turn off when I write, letting the whole experience, the whole process of reason, logic and emotion play out. Events, experiences, snapshots in time, receive the full treatment when I write. Through the written process, more is revealed, providing a richer experience upon reflection. Patterns are revealed, lessons learned and a vision of the future, however vague or clear for the moment of tomorrow, appears. There is a richer sense of self from writing.
I write to survive.
I write to understand the full experience of survival.
I write to fully process what has happened, what it means and get a better sense of what can happen.