Me & Blaze, my amusing muse
Today is National Day on Writing, and the National Writing Project is asking writers, “Why do you write?”
I just found out a few minutes ago, so there’s no time for pre-celebration preparations, no putting up of the Writing tree and covering it with typewriter keys, spools of ribbon and bottles of liquid white-out, with a little figure of Mark Twain perched atop the highest branch. And no time to give the topic more than a quick paragraph or two in the middle of a busy day. That’s probably a good thing—usually we’re able to cut to the chase and say what needs saying most when we don’t have time to over think things and agonize over every single word.
So why do I write?
I’ve been writing as long as I’ve known how to string words together. It’s as much a part of me as my blue eyes, my short stature and my sense of the absurd. Unlike those other characteristics, though, it is, thankfully, the one characteristic through which I can accomplish something…share what I’ve learned, share what I think, share what I feel. Often I write because I don’t know what I think about something, and through the process of kicking around a few words on the subject, I gain a little insight into it.
Essentially, writing is how I respond to the world. I write because I can’t not write. Just like I can’t not breathe. It’s part and parcel of who I am.
