why do you write?

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everyone who posts to ilx writes to one degree or another. a small percentage actualy consider themselves writers. but why do you write? when can one accurately call themselves a "writer"? is being published involved? making money off it? doing it a lot? i ask because i sit here and sometimes i really dont knw why i write. other than: "i don't know how to do anything else."

― jess, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

this is what i get for being housebound on new years eve and drunk @ 5:29, est.

(man, nelly furtado is fucking annoying. damn you mtv for sucking me into the top 50 of 2001.)

― jess, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Do you agree that if your work has been published = a writer?

― Gale Deslongchamps, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's a labor. If you want the tag "writer" then your sole resposbility is to write, record, bear witness. And beyond being just an everday task, it takes over consciousness. It takes over you. (Note: much of this is me kicking myself in the pants for not working hard enough at writing in the past year.) Check out Annie LaMont's Bird by Bird. Entertaining and inspiring stuff on the act of writing.

Why do I write? I'm sure there's a mess of psychological reasons behind it. But I prefer to answer that it's just because I love it.

― bnw, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Because what I have to say is important.

― Sterling Clover, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

i write because i am good at it , i write because i love langauge, i wonder at it, i love the way that words roll arround me tounge,stick in my craw. I write of course to bear witness , to point the way , to show people hey thats neat. i write for similar reasons to why i fuck or why i eat.

― anthony, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll take Anthony's answer & Sterling's answer, and add my own subconscious need to be heard & heeded. And Jess' concluding comment in the question.

Being a writer isn't about the money or the public appearances; it's about speaking your mind. If a writer writes and no one hears them, do they make a damn bit of difference? Sure, whatever - write for your damn self and no one else, if it makes you happy.

― David Raposa, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I write because I'd go nuts if I didn't. It's sort of a constant ongoing surrealist therapy for me.

― Chris Lyons, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Though I write a fair amount, I really have never felt the putative 'must write because I cannot do otherwise' approach. I almost feel that's a rationalization, although not a bad one by any means, and I only speak of it that way from my own viewpoint. Certainly I think the impulse is something that's always there, but I don't feel a particular holy mission on the subject. A day can go by without having written something and I won't feel any less of myself because of it. It's more accurate to say that if I formally start a task it will likely get finished quickly -- I like getting things over with. That's why the novel exercise only took the two weeks or so. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like what Anthony wrote,because I've progressively developed a complex about writing for myself on the grounds that it seemed a futile wanky endeavour,but I guess 'wanky' is the key word and self- indulgence is the point.It's a New Year,so I will go by a new rule.

― Damian, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"Why do I write" is like "why do I wear clothes"--I mean, I don't HAVE to do it ALL the time, but I'm often a lot more comfortable if I do. I consider myself incredibly fortunate that people sometimes pay me to do it, because I'd do it anyway.

― Douglas, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hi Chris, Why do you think you would go nuts if you didn't write? You could take up paint by numbers or knitting... You can do anything at all. I'll bet you'd be good at whatever you do!

― Gale Deslongchamps, Monday, 31 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

1.) I love playing with words. How weird to put into words what you hear/see, put it on paper, send it out into the world. How COXY, non?
2.) I am all about understanding. Writing helps me to gain insight to why I love/hate/don't care about certain things.4.) This doesn't mean I am any GOOD at it naturally - just take a look at this list. But it won't stop me. Oh no.
"I don't feel the need to give such secrets away." YOU GO HALL&OATES! You are on the feh-ing MONEY!

I realize you are reading this. Hello, nice to meet you. Why won't you tell me why you are reading this? Huh huh? HUUUH? :-)

― helenfordsdale, Tuesday, 1 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

if not me then who?

― mark s, Tuesday, 1 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I write because I'd hate myself if I didn't. And actually the more I write the more I am comfortable in my own skin. I don't actually like writing, though, because everything I write is so awful and dull that I feel guilty while I'm putting my thoughts down.

― Maria, Tuesday, 1 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

cos it's the only thing i know how to do that might make the world a slightly better place

― Geoff, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm giving it all up for painting by numbers. Tom, expect my FT submission to be in watercolours.

― Sarah, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't anymore. Months of college essays have broken my spirit.

― Ronan, Wednesday, 2 January 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

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