Why I Write: Part 1 - To Feel Alive

"Why do you write?" I get this question sometimes from curious individuals who wonder why I don't have a normal hobby like sports or crafts or reading. Well, I do love to read, but it isn't my only pastime. Although I have never asked myself this question in such a straightforward fashion, I have always known why I write. But I decided that perhaps it was time to answer these questions in a succinct manner for those who ask. This will be a series with several parts to be posted over the next few weeks - starting today with Why I Write: Part 1.

Reason 1: I Write to Feel Alive

The arts especially address the idea of aesthetic experience. An aesthetic experience is one in which your senses are operating at their peak; when you’re present in the current moment; when you’re resonating with the excitement of this thing that you’re experiencing; when you are fully alive. - Sir Ken Robinson

Writing is an art, like drawing or painting. An artist sees the world around him with eyes that notice the intricate details. He sees every petal of each daisy in that field full of wild-flowers and the ever-changing colors of the sky as the sun sets. He is involved in the moment, drawn into the subtle shadings of the world surrounding him. The artist understands that it is these little moments that make up the whole - these little details that make the picture worth painting.

Writing is similar to this. As a writer, I feel the crisp bite of the winter air that invigorates and inspires me. I hear the swish of the wind as it dances and twirls like a child through the needles of the tall, watchful pine. I smell the musty pages of that favorite old book as its pages rustle under my fingers, willing to share its story once again. I notice the small things in life, and then place my pen to the paper so others may notice them as well.

This connectivity applies to people as well. The eyebrow raised as you listen with skepticism, the glistening tears you try to hold back as hateful words cut to your very core, the crinkling around your eyes and twitch of your lips as you try to suppress an unexpected laugh that swells up during an inopportune moment. I see these moments and can describe them in a way that allows you to see and experience them as well.

I write to feel alive. I write to fully enter the moment, to touch everything and everyone around me. I write to make the ordinary extraordinary.