Why Write?

I will try to carve out a few minutes , when the morning is still, to get some creative writing going. After writing just assignments, chosen by someone else, I feel a bit drained and uninspired, and simply un-creative, not expressed, not connected.

Why do I write?

The book I got for a dollar--The Journey From the Center To the Page--is probably the best investment I have made for my writing this year. This book is a combination of instruction and inspiration through yoga and being aware of your body, your energy, your source. It confronts me with questions like "What are you writing for?" which I never really thought about, but somehow felt nagging within me.

Some write for the ego--they need the praise and they deflate with the criticism. Some write to express themselves. Some write to prove themselves. Some write to prove their parents right (or wrong). Some write to make sense of the world. Some to inform the world, and still some to make the world better. Some write from their core principles, exploring causes, justice, freedom, "to tell the truth," "to help others," "to hold myself together."

Essayist Jean Berstein says that she writes "because questions, voices, surface in her like splinters, and writing is the best way to pull out the really irritating ones."

The books also points the more important question: "What am I writing for?" and encourages me to answer from within me, where no other writer, professor, or reader will hear me. And to get to that place, our minds must be clear.

I don't really know why I write or what I really want to write. For that matter, I don't know why I crochet, either. It's like a painter that captures his picture but stores them in his garage. If no one reads you, did you write?

Well, let me tell you that no matter how illogical, I believe the tree that fell in the middle of the forest made a sound, even if no one heard it. . .

And so, if I wrote from the heart, should there be a reason?

Exercise Number 1: Get up a few minutes earlier. Settle your inner chatter. Sit comfortably on a chair, or you can stand in "mountain pose"--feet hip-wide apart, spine long, hands at the heart.
Just breathe. Stand or sit for 2 minutes simply listening to your breath. Make them deep and full. This is called "closing your eyes and centering your heartbeat."

Second, clarify an immediate focus for your writing--a subject or an intention to receive insight.
Listen and don't force. Just let the inspiration bubble up.

I will tell you the insights when I get to center myself.