why I write...

I'm a writer. I love to write. I write because it is what I do... just as a marathoner runs or a sculptor creates. I write prose and I write poetry. I journal and I blog. I write letters and I write emails. I write fact and I write fiction. I just write.

The funny thing is that I write to quiet the noise in my head. I know... I know... sounds a bit schizophrenic, eh? I think it probably is. For you see, once I write (or type which is my preferred way of writing) the noise in my head is gone because my thoughts are now either on real or virtual paper. Chad will testify that more times than I could ever count, I have gotten out of bed to write so that my head will shut off enough for me to sleep! Once the noisy thoughts have been released to paper, I can rest.

Lately, the noise is getting loud in my mind again. For a time, I have tried to ignore it but it will not be put off. It is as if my mind needs the time for the ideas to cement themselves together into coherent thoughts and sentences. Once the sentences come, the sound becomes deafening and my fingers seek a keyboard in quiet release.

I'm anticipating tonight to be a night of quiet release. For days now, my mind has been churning over partial thoughts and incomplete ideas that need to find their way into coherent structure. These thoughts plague me in my sleep and accompany me everywhere I go. At some of the most inopportune times, the partial thoughts will become complete sentences and I have no way of recording them. It's time to quiet the noise.

I don't write to just string words together to convey a thought or an idea. I don't write to persuade you to join my team or to embrace my convictions. I don't write to use an impressive vocabulary.... I don't write for any other reason than because I am a writer and it's what I do.