Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Why Write...Why Do Anything?

Last night was my last "Beyond Well Begun" writing class. I have to say, the last eight weeks have probably been some of the most productive of my writing life. I didn't get a tremendous amount written, but I learned so much from our instructor, Nancy Knight.

After reviewing all the subjects covered in class, Nancy asked us The Question: "Why do you write?"

Without exception we all answered pretty much the same way. We write because that's who we are...we are writers.

Even if (God forbid!) I never get published, or if I publish once and never again (one book wonder???) I would still write.

I write because I have so many stories to tell. And if my computer and Alphasmart were taken away from me, I'd use whatever pen or pencil was handy and write on notebook paper, napkins, paper towels...I'd even scratch my words into a piece of wood with a sharp knife if necessary--because I have to get the words out of my brain and make them solid.

Come to think of it....if I were REALLY desperate, I could learn intarsia knitting and knit my novels...it would be time consuming, but doable. :)

I know I'm drifting into silliness here, but my point is, when an artist of any kind has a statement to make, they find a way and nothing short of complete incapacitation or death will stop them.

And it always surprises me when someone admits that once upon a time they wrote a novel, shoved it under the bed and never wrote another word.

How can someone do that? And when they do, do they suffer in agony over the suppression of their creativity? Or do they not think of it ever again?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I write because it's fun. It's a good way for me to blow off steam from stress, and while it would be awesome to be pubbed, I'd stillw rite even if I couldn't be.

Michelle said...

A knitted novel, huh? Now that would be something to see!

I would think that if you were good enough to write a novel, you'd want to keep writing?