Why I Write

George Orwell identifies four main motivations for writing: sheer egoism, the desire for recognition; aesthetic enthusiasm, the love of language; the historical impulse, the need to record events and seek truth; and political purpose, the drive to push the world in a certain direction and expose injustice, which he argues becomes the most crucial motive for a writer in turbulent times. (I got this from an AI overview) I used to write for "self-expression." That was the only reason and the reason that the world seemed anxious to teach everyone from childhood on. Write about how you feel. Write about what you like. Write about what you don't like. Just write. About you. And that has always been a good reason to write. It is also sometimes viewed as "therapy." When I wrote my memoir, "Don't Let the Devil Steal Your Song: A Memoir of Recovery from Parental Divorce," my main motivation, besides wanting to share my story of how Christ changed my life, I wanted people to know how hideous divorce feels for a child and how the residue of the inner hurt continues throughout one's lifetime. People often speak of writing as "therapy" when writing about things like that, describing their feelings about personal trauma of any and every variety, and, indeed, it is therapeutic, because you get your thoughts and your feelings out on paper or on a computer screen, and you can see how you think and how you feel and maybe even see how some may respond to what you wrote. And I do write today with the motivation of reaching hearts if at all possible and expressing what's inside of me, hoping that it can build bridges between people and ultimately lift them up, not bring them down. I believe that even though we are all unique, we share a great deal in common with all people everywhere. And I view writing as a way to connect with people. Now I have a commitment to God and to myself to write every day. To write something. I usually don't know what I'm going to write about until I sit down and start writing. I have my Bible open or I have heard or seen something biblical that spoke to me during the day. Today I just felt like reading out of Philippians, a letter the Apostle Paul wrote while in prison. I do not know if I can change anyone's mind about divorcing if they have children, but I still hope that somehow my book will help somebody. Meanwhile, I have these marketing establishments constantly emailing me or calling me about helping me market my book. Of course, they want a lot of money and I don't have a lot of money to give them. I spent plenty of money self-publishing, which I will never do again. It's probably true, however, that people may not ever find my book because I don't know how to market it, and that will just have to be the case. I have gotten about $11 in royalties from the book. It is online and plenty of companies are making more money from the book than I will ever make from it short of a miracle. But I told God a long time ago if I was going to be promoted, he was going to have to promote me. I am not an entrepreneur, and I'm sure not going to pay a bunch of people I don't know to help them make more money off my book in foreign markets. I'm just not interested in that. I write because I believe God wants me to write. Something. I don't know what yet. I have written devotionals but I am not terribly interested in competing in that market either. I don’t know what God wants me to write right now, except what I'm writing now. Different things. I'll see where it goes. And finally, I simply have always enjoyed writing, and so, in a way, I don't really completely understand why I write. I just write because I write. I think it's healthy, whether you just write in a journal or poetry, or haiku or even if you like to text, although, personally, I don't like to text at all anymore and do it as little as possible. I also like to read, so I'm kind of in a happy place with reading and writing and tutoring kids. It's a great place, and I have no reason to complain even though I do more than I should. God bless you and goodnight.