Now that I’ve introduced myself, I’ll get down to business. This blog is my writing blog, the blog where I’ll capture the highs and the lows of my writing, thoughts on writing, and thoughts on any research I do for writing. For today, however, I would like to quote one of my favorite books about writing.
If You Want to Write by Brenda Ueland (used only the first (and sometimes second) lines of each point to simplify list):
If you want to write:
1. Know that you have talent, are original and have something important to say.
2. Know that it is good to work. Work with love and think of liking it when you do it.
3. Write freely, recklessly, in first drafts.
4. Tackle anything you want to.
5. Don’t be afraid of writing bad stories. To discover what is wrong with a story write two new ones and then go back to it.
6. Don’t fret or be ashamed of what you have written in the past.
7. Try to discover your true, honest, untheoretical self.
8. Think of yourself as an incandescent power, illuminated perhaps…
9. If you are never satisfied with what you write, that is a good sign. It means your vision can see so far that it is hard to come up to it.
10. When discouraged remember what Van Gogh said: “If you hear a voice inside of you saying: you are no painter, then paint by all means, lad, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working.”
11. Don’t be afraid of yourself when you write.
12. Don’t always be appraising yourself, wondering if you are better or worse than other writers.
The first point sums up perfectly why I write. It’s not the only reason I write however.
I write because my creativity and ideas need an outlet, where the characters of my imagination can come alive to populate the world with their own intricate and fascinating stories.
I write because to not write would mean to lose a piece of who I am.
I write because each story that I let loose onto paper is a story that needs to be shown to the world, that needs to have life breathed into it, because if I don’t write that story, it’ll haunt my dreams until I do.
I write because I love writing.
Why do you write, my dear readers?
Reshaping Reality 