Why Write?

I have always wondered about this…why do I write? And I think this question relates to who reads today anyways?

Times are changing. There’s the vast internet, the good old television, the hot video games, the expansive DVDs with hours of extras, there is so much out there to occupy our time, so who would spend the time to sit alone and be immersed in the written word?

As a writer you always battle with this last question, because it has a great impact in what you do. If no one read than what is the point of writing. No one will appreciate all the hard work you, as the writer, has done. Then the second question is even if someone did read would they enjoy reading your work?

Writers spend countless hours sitting behind a blank computer screen or a blank piece of paper, hoping, fearing, that what comes out of their mind is nothing short of readable. They know they have a story, even if it’s only vague, and they want to share this story with the rest of the world.

I have battled this too. There were oh-so-many times where I had quit, sworn to whatever is holy that I would never write again, only to find myself back in front of the blank screen. Why do I torture myself?

I think the answer is simple: as writers, we know, that the story lurking in the back of our subconscious is good and must be told, even if it isn’t, by the time we put it on paper it will be. We think, through our sheer determination we will transform that thought into something tangible. It is then that we will be praised as geniuses, deemed society’s moral compass, or even heroes to have written something that no one had to courage to write.

When I started out I struggled with this, what if something I write is not good. What if it is not worth the piece of paper it is written on, meaning who would want to publish it?

These kinds of thoughts can cripple a young or new writer. There is just too much doubt that lingers when one is working on his/her craft.

Then one day I read something that kind of gave me solace. I think of this whenever the doubt creeps back into my subconscious. I read it years ago and I can’t seem to find out who said it, but with all due respect to the author, I’ll paraphrase:

“No one is going to miss a book that’s not written.”

So there, if you have a story that’s worth telling and you don’t tell it then we’ll never have the opportunity to appreciate it.