Why I Write

This was a writing lesson in my fifth grade class a couple of years ago.  We had a big poster and in the middle was a bubble that said: Why Do We Write?  The class brainstormed reasons and we filled up the poster.  They came up with some good responses, such as: to entertain, to learn, to inform and for enjoyment.  The last one surprised me a bit; especially given it came from a student who openly hated writing.  Writing used to be my least favorite thing to teach but that year, it became my favorite.  It was like I fell in love with it all over again, and hopefully brought my students along for the ride with me. 

This lesson popped into my head the other day as I read one of the blogs that I frequently check.  This woman and her husband have made a VERY good living with their blog.  In fact, she is currently travelling in Australia FOR FREE just because of the popularity of her blog.  She writes mainly about food and travelling, but you can find all sorts of things on there.  It’s also filled with advertisements and borderline annoying because of it.  Nevertheless, I keep reading and obviously so do thousands of others. 

I started this blog to document my path to better health following my surgery and also to create a modern day baby book of my kids.  But as I thought of why else I actually write, I quickly came to the realization that it’s more than that.  Writing is an outlet; it’s like free therapy for me.  I can take all the jumbled, unclear and sometimes stressful thoughts that are constantly in my head and dump them here.  What I’ve also come to understand is that I also enjoy having an audience.  But not in the “give me attention” kind of way.  I imagine it’s how an actor, comedian, or anyone who works with people feels.  It’s connecting, it’s relating and even though in my case it’s often without any direct feedback, it’s learning. 

When I sit down to write these posts, they’ve usually formed in my head first and my fingers are just working to get it all down before I forget.  I actually do a lot of thinking in the middle of the night when I’m up with Audrey.  So you can thank her for these reflective (hopefully not too boring) pieces. 

I highly doubt that I’ll ever make it to Australia with this blog, but if one day writing made me a little money, well obviously that would be wonderful.  But for now, I’m just going to keep at it with the hope of entertaining, learning, informing and definitely enjoying.