Why I Write

I enjoy writing. I enjoy turning internal thoughts, fears, feelings, and emotions into external words for others to read. I enjoy the process of organizing thoughts, arranging sentences, revising, revising again, and giving away the thoughts I have wrestled with. Call me strange, but I enjoy the sound that a pen makes as it pushes its way through the empty spaces of a page. There are days when this is very easy. There are days and seasons when this is agonizingly difficult. I am in such a season at present. Although writing is not my primary craft and not the manner in which I make a living, it is a big part of who I am as a person. You may ask, “Why?” Since it’s not the primary thing you do, you may ask “What’s the purpose of writing?” With all the other duties and responsibilities you have, you may ask “Why take the time and write?” These are all good questions.

I write because blank pages hold great promise. They are full of potential. The Declaration of Independence began as a blank page desiring to say something about personal and national freedom. Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation began as a blank page crying out against the human tragedy that was slavery. Iconic poems, short stories, and sermons by Frost, Angelou, Wells, Poe, and King all began as blank pages. Works by authors such as Melville, Dickens, Twain, Faulkner, Woolf, Austen, Hawthorne, Homer, Steinbeck, Hemingway, Orwell, Stowe, Mitchell, and Salinger all began as blank pages. I write because words wield great power. Words have the capacity to educate, inform, bless, express love, demonstrate hate, cry out against injustices, declare war, call for reforms, and transport us to different times and places. It has been the consistent combining of both pen and paper that has for centuries has called for revolutions, daily brought the news of the world to our mailboxes, challenged Americans to serve their country, instituted treaties, dissolved nations, and challenged the saved and the lost to make Christ a priority. I believe in the power of the written word. This is why I write.