Why I Write

I haven’t produced much lately for the website because I have been a bit busy working on a novel. It has been a year in progress, but I have been working on it a lot more lately. Optimistically, I will finish it sometime in the next several months and be able to make it available online.

Recently, I had a bit of an epiphany. I had always believed that I write when I am sad; it was some form of an outlet of negative feelings that wasn’t harmful. In fact, I would still completely advise it to anybody that is going through a tough period in their life.

However, I realized that I don’t write just as an outlet for negative emotions. Looking back on past writings, I found that it is always related to whatever my situation might be at the time. I can always pick out what I was going through based on the characters, story, and situations. While some things are more metaphorical, and others are very clear, they serve as a time capsule. They are a home for feelings that meant a lot to me. I feel the urge to write when I have so many emotions that they could never be expressed in a conversation or even be put into words. Because of this, I create something. I create a place to visit when I miss the good times, or when I am remembering the tough times.

My epiphany was that I write things I don’t want to forget. I want to have a place that I can find the events that shaped the man that I have become.

So, to wrap this up, I don’t just write when I am sad; I write when I am so full of emotion that it deserves to be remembered. I write because sometimes fiction is the best place to find a hint of the truth.

I hope that reading this will encourage anybody to sit down and write when they have a lot on their mind. You don’t have to worry about the quality or the people that will read it because they never need to. If by some chance somebody does get to read it, then they won’t learn a thing, because the special part about writing fiction, is that only the author truly knows what each word meant.

You are the only one that knows what you meant. I am a firm believer that everybody has a story to tell, so give it a shot and hold onto it. One day, you just might learn something about yourself.