Why I Write

Welcome to the Why I Do What I Do series.  If you missed the introduction or day one (why I run), click to catch up.

See this stack of books?


These are my journals.  I've kept a journal since the fourth grade.  At one point I threw away the earliest volumes that were written during my middle school years.  (Sometimes life is best left undocumented.  The sixth, seventh, and eighth grades are some of those times.)  The journals that remain cover the past 20 years of my life.

I can't imagine life without writing.

I'm a person who can't always discern how I feel until I write what I'm thinking.  When words spill out onto a page -- or this screen -- my thoughts are free to dislodge themselves from my head.  They no longer trip over one another, tangling themselves.

Writing brings clarity.

It also brings such pleasure.  I taste words, noting their distinct flavors and feels.  I chew on good paragraphs.  I sop up well-worded sentences.  I savor clever phrases.  Then I serve them, hoping that my readers will take as much delight consuming them as I took preparing them.

Have you ever kept a journal?  All my fellow bloggers, why do you write?

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16 comments

  1. I write to my boys. If anything ever happens to me, I want them to know how very much I love them.

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  2. Steph at The Healthy MomJuly 18, 2012

    Yup! That's why I blog! In fact, I have a post written (haven't published it yet) about why I blog. It's a release. It's a way to flex my right brain.

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  3. Love it! I've been keeping a journal for so many years...I'm going to stack mine up and take a pic too! And now I write to my kids...my oldest has two full journals, my middle has one and a half, and my unborn third baby has one started too!! Writing is my life. So glad to share it with you!

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  4. Love it! I've been keeping a journal for so many years...I'm going to stack mine up and take a pic too! And now I write to my kids...my oldest has two full journals, my middle has one and a half, and my unborn third baby has one started too!! Writing is my life. So glad to share it with you!

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  5. Holly FordJuly 18, 2012

    I started blogging so I can document life now. I like reading back and remembering. I also want my kids to someday be able to look back and read about the crazy things they did....besides, I was terrrrible at doing those "baby books".

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  6. I love visiting old entries, too. I have to imagine that one day our kids might find them fascinating, too.

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  7. Great explanation: flexing our right brains!

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  8. Heather SkinnerJuly 18, 2012

    I could have written this post. I write and keep journals for all those reasons. I have also found it very faith-affirming to go back and read them. "So that's what God was doing! And to think I couldn't see it..." As always, I enjoy reading your blog, When I discovered it a few months ago, your writings reminded me of my own love of writing and inspired me to start a blog. :)

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  9. I could have written this post. I write and keep journals for all those reasons. I have also found it very faith-affirming to go back and read them. "So that's what God was doing! And to think I couldn't see it..." As always, I enjoy reading your blog, When I discovered it a few months ago, your writings reminded me of my own love of writing and inspired me to start a blog. :)

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  10. That's so true, Heather! Has your blog launched? Share the address!

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  11. smoothstonesJuly 18, 2012

    I was never a regular writer until I became a blogger. Writing is lonely business, I think, until one becomes a blogger. The extrovert in me loves blogging. I write for my kids, but in a way that works for me.

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  12. I totally get this, Brandee. Blogging makes writing immediate and connected, which staves off the loneliness.

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  13. I love words and I love reading words. I used to think of myself as a reader more than I writer, but that has slowly started to change. I guess I blog because I believe I have words to share.

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  14. TheMomChefJuly 19, 2012

    I used to journal all the time and I kept all mine (like you're doing) for decades. Then I went to a friend's funeral and her father read a piece from her journal. I was appalled to realize that once I die, all my most private thoughts, prayers and wishes could be made public like that. So, I burned them all.


    As far as blogging, I guess it's there to replace the journaling. I love to write (I was an English major in college, after all). Even when I'm not in front of paper or computer, my mind is composing letters, posts, entries all the time.


    FYI, my sister journals. She's made a deal with me. If she dies before I do, I will burn her journals and make sure no one reads them.

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  15. I write for the same reasons that you and others have talked about. I do it to preserve memories for my girls and myself. I also do it as a release - to vent frustration, share joy, etc. Connecting with other bloggers has been a wonderful, extra benefit as well!!

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