Why do I write?
The simple answer is to communicate.
When I write letters or essays, I seek to communicate ideas. It’s my intention, in these writing types, to enable the reader to clearly and fully grasp the subject matter, whatever that may be. That often includes asking them to act upon, or causing them to make a judgment regarding, what I’ve written. The purpose is to alter their awareness, their activity, or their opinion. There is a dominant cerebral component.
In writing fiction or poetry, I seek to communicate beyond ideas, to induce highly visual mindscapes, containing essential emotional components that stir the heart, and visceral components that excite physical sensations. There’s an expanded emotional component.
I draw upon my life’s experiences. At 60 years of age, and having lived a very unsheltered, unguarded life — I have quite a few to call upon. I pay equal heed to the positive and the negative experiences, the good and the bad, the best and the worst of my life and myself. If I don’t, my work will lack completeness and credibility. As a result, it will lack real meaning and impact.
I place the authentic creation of a genuine experience for the reader above all else — so writing fiction and poetry starts with the honesty of the heart. If I am not laughing, crying, lusting, craving, grieving, or the like while I do these types of writing — then I’m not being open and honest, because I’m not in touch with my true, raw, unanalyzed, unfiltered feelings.
Once I have tapped directly into, and am actively feeling the “gist”, the heart of the matter — then I call on ever-evolving skills to fire and temper that honesty to its peak effectiveness.
I am always learning to be a better writer. I learn by specific study, reading with my mind always engaged and open, seeking relevant counsel and influence, being open to all pertinent mentoring and recognizing when it is present, and by simply being available to the plethora of life’s valuable lessons.
I always seek to learn, to grow, to connect — these are the powerful forces driving why I write.