Why Do You Write? By Susan Hanniford Crowley

If you're a writer, this is probably the most asked question.  For people who express themselves in other ways, it's not always easy to understand a writer.  In the garden of life, we're the wild rose.  We climbed over the stone wall into the cultivated garden and no one is sure how we got there.   After they get used to us, we become part of their world. The answer to the question is however rather personal and different for every writer.  Or not.   I write because I breathe.  If I stopped writing, I would feel the effects on my health.  It isn't pleasant.  I also become less interested in the world at-large.  I become sad, as if something is missing and I just can't find it.

My normal nature is to rush toward life.  My mind analyzes and expands on everything I see, hear, touch, smell, and feel.  Then I write in my dreams and explore.  Often I am only a scribe as I watch a story unfold in a dream.   I dream most of my work.  Occasionally I'll dream with eyes wide open though.  Anything at all could suddenly burst into a full-fledged story for me.   Writing encompasses very part of me.  My close friends have learned to watch my eyes.   They know when I've switched into writing mode.  When something in life has just awakened it's parallel story in another dimension so to speak, I write.  I write because I must.  What movie is it where the character says, "Come with me, if you want to live?"

I think you get it now.  Why do you write?  Or paint?  Or build?  Or cultivate?  Or create?  Or plan? Or inform?  Or teach?  I'd love to know.   

–Susan

Susan Hanniford Crowley

http://www.susanhannifordcrowley.com

Filed under: A Writing Sirloin Tip, Helping Other Writers, romance, Susan Hanniford Crowley, Writer's Life, Writing Topics