Just recently, I read something in the book I bought, The Forest For the Trees, by Betsy Lerner. I'd create a link to it right now, but I've left it in several places already (go to my "In Stereo" page and you'll find it), I'm gonna be lazy and not link it again hehe sorry ^_^"

Anyway, in the book, she says, and I quote, "I can assure you that you will never finish any piece of writing if you don't understand what motivates you to write in the first place." While I am unsure if that holds true for everyone out there (I don't think it does), I still would like to take a moment to re-exam my own motivation for writing. Who knows, perhaps it will inspire me to write more often? It certainly couldn't hurt.

So, why do I write? I have many reasons. Sometimes stories or characters just bug me until I write them down or write about them--it's like the impulse to eat. My main purpose for writing though, is to fully live. To understand more--about myself, and others, about the human race, about the other species, about the non-physical world even. It's a quest to experience things I might/probably won't ever get to experience otherwise. My first love was heavy reading. I read all the time, mostly adventure and fantasy. I did it because I always wanted to have my own adventure. There are some days I get so restless, so depressed that I can never have an adventure like the ones I read in my adventure and fantasy stories. I can, however, take those stories a step further, and write my own adventure/fantasy stories. In a way, I am my main characters, even if they aren't anything like me, even if I've never experienced what they have. The connection with my own characters, writing the actual story, gives me more of a connection with the adventure I've always wanted than merely reading them.

But there's another reason. It is tied into the first, but perhaps less selfish. I love reading a really good book, the kind where you wish it hadn't ended--even when the story is completely finished and you know there isn't going to be a sequel. I want to be responsible for giving someone else that experience. I want to be one of those people who wisks someone off on an adventure or to a world of my creation that they will always remember.

Why do I write outside of fantasy and adventure then? I've written some real life shorts before...I've written poems.... All of those, I think, were attempts to understand things, to work through issues. I wrote about an old man with schizophrenia, and his son--an attempt to understand what it must have been like for my dad and grandpa (the latter being someone I don't remember ever meeting). I think, next to the adventure, understanding is a big thing for me.

I always seek to understand others, trying to learn as much as I can about other cultures and learning foreign languages, all things I have a passion for, even my love of ancient history and the career path of archaeology/ancient linguist, are all reflections of my desire to understand--and to help others understand me. I write about things, people in different situation than my own or even like my own, to better understand those people and myself, but also to help others better understand those people (and my viewpoints if it applies).

I believe myself to be a very empathic individual (take that to mean as you will--i.e. interpret as a "magic" gift, or simply a people skill). I believe understanding, complete understanding of other people, could cure many issues that our world has (and even perhaps stop some issues from arising in the first place).

To adventure, to have wings to fly with, and to understand. These are my main motivations. The reasons why I started writing (and continue to write) in the first place.

Other motivations...the people who love my writing (especially my sister who will no longer read anything until I finish it--which is a kind of motivaiton in itself), the people who believe in me (I have a strong need to live up to or exceed the expectations of others)--especially my mentor, Domynoe. While she may not be published as she wishes (YET), she still teaches me a lot, and keeps me writing on days I just want to give up. The promise of being heard if I just keep at it...so many other things. I would love to make my mom and dad proud of me, by accomplishing what I've always wanted to do/be (write/be a writer). As flighty as I am, I have likely forgotten a few, but I believe I have accomplished what I set out to do with this exercise in motivation.

--Saronai~*