Day 9!: Why I Write

I was feeling at a loss for blogging topics, so my wise roomie suggested I write about writing, namely, what started me writing and why I write. So here's a little insight into my writing world...

From age six I remember writing stories and illustrating them, or, perhaps it was more like drawing pictures and putting stories to them. The spelling was atrocious, and the art was primitive, but it was a start. Later, when I really got into playing with my Barbie dolls around age 7, I would write stories about their lives and things they did. Basically, they were epic-Barbie-adventure short fiction. I started journaling very trivial matters around age seven, and continued throughout elementary, middle, and high school. You know, trivial as in crushes and "cool" things I did.

I didn't meet poetry until about fifth or sixth grade, but at age 12, it was love. I loved learning the different poetry forms and varieties, and wrote a few cheesy poems since to my thinking, any good poem had to rhyme. My poetry writing began to overflow out of the classroom and into my daily life. Poetry would be an occasional "fun" hobby I would dabble in the next few years.

By high school, my writing technique and life experiences had both expanded, especially after the awesome teacher I had for 11th grade English. I credit him with awakening the spark of passion I have for literature and writing. That class was heaven, and he should have been a professor, in my honest opinion. By late high school, my interest in poetry was deepening, but it did not truly blossom until college.

Once in college, I decided to start a blog (ta-dah!) and my journaling took on a whole new perspective. With new thoughts, new people, new experiences, and more important life choices, my journal reflected a deeper and more serious side of me. Many of my journal entries were basically written prayers, as journaling became a way to vent and relieve the tension and anxiety built up in my heart and swirling thoughts. (I always like something tangible on paper. It seems more organized and much less frightening.) I continued to write poetry, and even took a creative writing poetry class, which I ADORED. My poems were a way to convey my heavy emotions (many of them never shared) or as a form of artistic escapism for me, the writer. Though I still love poetry, I am more challenged in writing it now that I know what makes a poem "good." But I still find it an excellent venting procedure, especially if it's free-verse prose.

Anyways, that's my story. I basically write because I can't not write, to bring myself and others pleasure, and because I have to visually clear my heart and mind through pen and page, or, keyboard and PC screen.

Write on, my friends,
Jane