Why Write?

Like every writer, I had to start somewhere. And like this post, my first ever, the page was blank.

The first big question always seems to be what. What should I write? What would be interesting? What do I have to say to the world?

But I started with why. Why do I want to write? Why do I feel the need to find a super cozy notepad and the perfect pen? Why do I need to make a cup of coffee and pick out the right lighting? Why do I want to put down a story?

For me, my answer was this: To remember that I can.

See, I left high school prepared to become a hotel and hospitality major when I went to college. That lasted about a month and suddenly I found myself an engineering major under the environmental track. My grades were such that I joined the honors college and took way more classes than I had any right to with things like Digital Photograph, Introduction to Business Marketing, and even classes on Sustainability Design. But my favorite elective class was my Creative Writing class.

Skip ahead a few years, and I'm working my way through as-built drawings for a wastewater treatment plant, plugging in pipeline alignment changes to CAD, and feeling creativity leeching from my pores. So, at lunch, I wrote a "short story." That's what I told myself and everyone else, anyway. I wanted to write to remind myself that I could. Looking back, it wasn't very good, but my ever-supportive mother insisted I finish the story.

Spoiler: I did. Then revised it. And revised it again. And am still revising it. It'll get published eventually, but I'm still honing my skills because that story is worth my best effort.

She encouraged me. She always has. She said I can do anything I set my mind to. And she's right. With determination and perseverance, I can do anything I set my mind to.

And before you think, "That's easy for you to say. I can't because..." I'd like to stop you there and say, yes, you can. You don't have to pump out a novel. You don't even have to write a short story. You could start with a sentence. Or even just a word. Because until you do, the paper is blank.

One of my favorite books is called The Dot by Peter H. Reynolds. It's an amazing story about a child that says she can't paint or do art at all. Her teacher tells her to make a mark. She does. A dot. Her teacher looks at it and says, "Sign it." The rest of this amazing story is all about her doing better and better dots, but it all started with a single dot.

Start somewhere. Make a mark. Write your word. And tomorrow, write another. Then another. Keep writing. Even if you never publish, you'll have made your mark. You can choose who you share it with, or you can keep it to yourself forever. But it's yours and that makes it special.

For me, I had to ask myself, why do I want to write? And my answer: To remember I can.