But Why Do We Do It?
Perhaps we write to capture life. With so many sensations, emotions, inspirations within just one person, what other way is there to keep track of it all? And we wouldn't want to lose any of it; writing is our way of photographing life, catching an instant on the page so that it can't be lost to the erosion of time and memory. We write to cage these flights of fancy that would otherwise float off into the sky and elude us forever. Lines on a page provide the bars of the cage, with the words trapped between them. And this is to give us freedom. That's what creativity is, really; it's putting the inside of ourselves on the outside in a physical form. Musicians, artists, writers - all do the same, through different mediums.
Other times perhaps we write simply to siphon off our bulging imaginations. We feel so full of ideas that we can do nothing but walk around in a daze until we can expel some of them onto paper or a computer screen. We can't function properly in the mundane world until we have captured our thoughts where they can't escape us. Our greatest fear is forgetting; no idea is ever quite as breath-taking the second time around.
There are a few who write to impress the masses; they write for their audience. But it is never quite the same as writing for yourself. Writing for yourself is not merely the transferral of words from mind to matter. Somewhere between the pen and the paper, a miracle is born.
The only thing that stops some people from writing forever is the need to live in and experience the world, in order to write about it. Throughout the course of our lives, we learn that the world is a book. It just hasn't been written yet. So, perhaps in vain, we try. We try to write our slice of life down for others to read and absorb and marvel over, just as we have done. It may well be impossible to convey the world through mere words, but still we try. Creativity is, for that purpose, the most powerful tool we have. The only tool we have.
We write to laugh. We write to cry. We write to love and dream and despair and inspire. When all's said and done, we just write. It's what we do. It's what I have just finished doing, right now.
.For the moment.
Perhaps we write to capture life. With so many sensations, emotions, inspirations within just one person, what other way is there to keep track of it all? And we wouldn't want to lose any of it; writing is our way of photographing life, catching an instant on the page so that it can't be lost to the erosion of time and memory. We write to cage these flights of fancy that would otherwise float off into the sky and elude us forever. Lines on a page provide the bars of the cage, with the words trapped between them. And this is to give us freedom. That's what creativity is, really; it's putting the inside of ourselves on the outside in a physical form. Musicians, artists, writers - all do the same, through different mediums.
Other times perhaps we write simply to siphon off our bulging imaginations. We feel so full of ideas that we can do nothing but walk around in a daze until we can expel some of them onto paper or a computer screen. We can't function properly in the mundane world until we have captured our thoughts where they can't escape us. Our greatest fear is forgetting; no idea is ever quite as breath-taking the second time around.
There are a few who write to impress the masses; they write for their audience. But it is never quite the same as writing for yourself. Writing for yourself is not merely the transferral of words from mind to matter. Somewhere between the pen and the paper, a miracle is born.
The only thing that stops some people from writing forever is the need to live in and experience the world, in order to write about it. Throughout the course of our lives, we learn that the world is a book. It just hasn't been written yet. So, perhaps in vain, we try. We try to write our slice of life down for others to read and absorb and marvel over, just as we have done. It may well be impossible to convey the world through mere words, but still we try. Creativity is, for that purpose, the most powerful tool we have. The only tool we have.
We write to laugh. We write to cry. We write to love and dream and despair and inspire. When all's said and done, we just write. It's what we do. It's what I have just finished doing, right now.
.For the moment.