What Compels You to Write?
I read a captivating Facebook post this morning. It wasn’t terribly long but the writing was personal and drew me in immediately. I read the entire thing, and I’m not one to read entire Facebook posts that are longer than 3 paragraphs. The post inspired me to write. It’s been a few days since I’ve worked on my current works in progress, and lately the difficulty of focus has worked it’s way into my routine — partly due to things going on in my personal life and partly due to the fact that I’m a tad overwhelmed at the moment. They’re all good things in which to be overwhelmed though. Finding balance is nothing new for me. It constantly changes each week. This upcoming week, I have a crowdfunding campaign launching, a deadline for a TV show bible, a few coaching calls, a rewrite of a TV episode to start, a speaking engagement and goals for my own writing projects. Now, performing the tasks themselves is not overwhelming, it’s the balancing of them that I struggle with. After reading that post this morning, I realized my workload no matter how big or small has kept me from reflecting on what compels me to write and why I am compelled to write.
During writing classes, teachers asked this question several times throughout the duration of the course: what compels you to write? Having not been in a writing class for a while now, it’s also been a while since I’ve been asked this. I used to ask myself this often, but the habit has gotten away from me. Reflecting on our writing is equally as important as our writing itself. We must pencil in reflection, whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly. Notice I didn’t say annually. So much happens within a year, and I believe it’s important to reflect at the very least every few months or so.
What compels you to write may change over time, but for me, it kind of has always been the same for the most part. I am compelled to write simply by a pull. A gravitational pull in my belly. A spirit, my spirit pushing me to press keys on a board and put words on to a screen. An itch I must scratch even if it’s on the middle of my back and slightly out of my hands’ reach.
Asking yourself that vital question may result in any or all of the following benefits:
- Motivation
- Find what’s working (or not working)
- Clarity in your creative process
- Seeing how far you’ve come (or not come) with your writing — the benefit of seeing how far you’ve *not come* gives you the opportunity to reflect on why that is and where you want to be
There are plenty of other reasons I’m compelled to write and plenty of other benefits in reflecting. Writing is what I know to do. My goals in life will not be achieved if I don’t write.
I wonder: is being compelled to write as simple for you as it is for me?
