Writing With a Purpose
My responsibility as a writer
As some of you know I write informal articles for a website called Adoption.com, Adoption.org, and Adopting.org. I do this on a freelance basis, and it’s my responsibility as a storyteller to inform, educate, and persuade people to consider adopting a child. While I do like this job and feel that it’s very important to get accurate information about everything that comes with adoption, it’s no surprise the work can be tedious. After all, I did sign a contract to write these articles to get others to read these sites for all their adoption knowledge. For a while, writing about adoption had me wondering; is this really something I want to do?
Now I’ll get into what I do for myself as a writer. I do like to write how I feel, and I enjoy telling other people’s stories through writing. Writing is therapeutic, and when I write how I feel, I feel like I’m writing with a purpose to let others know that they aren’t alone with feeling depressed, anxious, or moody. I also like to write about happy things; I’m not all melancholy. I like writing about love, peace, nostalgia, and the like. Whatever I write, I personally feel that I’d love for anyone reading my articles to feel connected, inspired, and less lonely.
As a full-fledged introvert, writing allows me to connect with others without making eye contact. This brings me to the mind of this quote by YA author John Green:
“Writing is something you do alone. It’s a profession for introverts who wanna tell you a story but don’t wanna make eye contact while telling it”
Another John Green quote about writing about the human experience and seeing things through someone else’s point of view:
“Writing, or at least good writing, is an outgrowth of that urge to use language to communicate complex ideas and experiences between people. And that’s true whether you’re reading Shakespeare or bad vampire fiction — reading is always an act of empathy. It’s always an imagining of what it’s like to be someone else.”
Writing allows me to tell a story, hoping that the reader can either relate to what I’m saying or at least see things from a new perspective. For example, if a reader comes along to one of my articles where I write about suffering from social anxiety disorder, who themselves have never felt that intense anxiety, they can sort of get a feel of my nervousness by simply struggling to start a conversation with a stranger. Or if a reader has or had a social anxiety disorder, they can absolutely relate to the silly fear that I have. Social anxiety is no laughing matter, and perhaps I’ll write many articles and stories about it.
My overall point is, as writers, I believe we do have a responsibility to inform, educate, entertain, and tell true stories. It’s a big responsibility, and that’s why it’s also healthy to write for yourself as well. When you’re writing for yourself, you’re letting go of the pressure of making an audience happy, and hopefully, you have feelings of relief. Whatever you’re writing about, you’re always writing with a purpose and it’s your responsibility to love what you do.
Writing With a Purpose was originally published in CRY Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
