10 Reasons I Love to Write ...

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I can talk a blue streak -- too much, sometimes. When I’m passionate about something -- and that includes being passionately angry -- my tongue can sometimes get away from me; it goes from a silver tongue to a switchblade tongue and all kinds of hot mess can happen. When I’m nervous, I tend to stutter. When I’m excited, I make no sense whatsoever. Writing my feelings on a subject helps me make more sense and express myself more clearly.

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Similarly, I can write things for my own benefit that I would never say. Once, I was in a very toxic relationship with a person I couldn’t stand but was still compelled to stay with for a variety of rather poisonous reasons. Serious hot mess -- but ranting about the situation in private LiveJournal posts was ultimately the way I got myself out of it!

Photo Credit: Poet for Life (more off than on these days)

I don’t really write poetry anymore, but when I did -- after polishing the art as well as I could -- I realized what a thrill it is to channel my feelings that way. Of course, fiction and nonfiction alike can help you do the same thing, it doesn’t have to be poetry. Writing can really help you understand or express your most confusing feelings.

Any time I start feeling lax, depressed, or generally uninspired, writing helps. Even if I have nothing to write about, taking my notebook out on the porch or something and just writing whatever comes to mind gives me a great jumpstart.

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Sometimes it’s hard to deal with certain feelings, and you may not feel like sharing them. Whenever that happens to me, I basically talk to myself. I write about whatever’s bothering me, or use it as the basis for a story or rant or something. It’s surprisingly effective.

Photo Credit: this is your brain on lithium

Greeting cards on birthdays and holidays are great, but my love of writing lets me give a personal touch. I love writing letters, poems, or little odes to my loved ones on special days. Even if I do buy a card, I always add something of my own on the blank pages.

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When I first started to get serious about writing fiction, I sort of stalked the thesaurus. The bad news is that for a period of my mid-teens, I wrote the worst kind of purple prose you can imagine. The good news is that I learned a ton of new words -- and now I actually know how to use them properly!

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Writing fiction is a power trip, I won’t lie. I don’t mean that in a d-baggy way, though. What I mean is, I love the feeling of creating characters and seeing them develop. I love creating new places and coming up with the details. However, if anyone ever sees me pulling a Stephenie Meyer and inserting myself as a Mary Sue character, please locate my address and punch me in the face immediately.

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I love seeing a situation, a person, an event, a location -- anything -- and being given the gift of suddenly imagining a story or something springing from it. Like Stephen King described in Bag of Bones, it’s awesome when you see something almost happen, for instance, and your mind goes on to examine all kinds of “but what if” scenarios.

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Over the years, I’ve expressed interest in a lot of things. I wanted to be a doctor until I hit college and realized my inability to pass organic chemistry would probably be an obstacle. I thought about being a lot of things, but writing has always been my passion. Whether anyone else thinks I’m good at it or not, it’s the one thing that makes me supremely happy -- and we all need that one thing in our lives.

What’s life without that one big passion? Sometimes it has to remain a hobby but sometimes you get lucky and can make a living at what you love. What do you love to do?

Top Photo Credit: Ayumi?Turquoise