Prologue

My pen is a lever which, in proportion as the near end stirs me further within, the further end reaches to a greater depth in the reader… ~ Thoreau, Journal, 4 August 1841

A written word is the choicest of relics. It is something at once more intimate with us and more universal than any other work of art. It is the work of art nearest to life itself… ~ Thoreau, Walden

Over the last four years I have read well over two thousand articles on Medium and commented on close to four hundred of these. What struck me repeatedly was the staying power of the articles by the people whose writing lingered in my mind. I realized after a while that they all shared certain characteristics.

~ Whether they got high numbers or not, their intent and intention remained strong to create the story that was and is in them.

~ Everything they wrote, be it nonfiction or fiction, held the underlying element of empathy and a deep caring about life, about living.

~ Everything they wrote was always done with enthusiasm at exploring the theme, whether it was about a nostalgic (and yet frightening) memory of a visit to the circus as a child, or the journey on foot around half the world and discovering 99% of people were actually good-hearted and not the villains of the media, or figuring out how to adjust to a loss of love, or daring to challenge their own beliefs, or exploring their own creative power in word and music, or saying yes to learning how to experience stillness in the midst of a crowd, or allowing spiritual guidance to inform their thoughts, or taking that long-desired walk through the ancient abbeys of England, and so much more…

~ I wanted to read the article or story through to the end, to know what it was as a whole and even why it had been created.

~ I felt the essential integrity of purpose in what they wrote, however light or dark the subject might be.

So it is that I have asked such writers on Medium to share their thoughts about why they write, what that means to them.

I offer these interviews with great gladness. Thank you for reading them.

More such interviews will be added, ongoing.