Writers regularly ask one question of other writers. Why do you write? Self-depreciating responses aside, I tend to confirmation bias the responses as “Because I cannot do otherwise.”
Part of that is on me. I cannot remember not wanting to, needing to write. Part I owe to a bevy of teachers, educators who encouraged the child reader.
Ms. Keener, Ms. Shotts, Ms. Rodenhauser, Ms. Adams, Ms. Novatnak, and especially Ms. Shipman. I can never, ever repay you for caring, for encouraging me to pursue the things I cared about. To be me.
As of this writing, Cannady ElementarySchool in Mesquite, Texas had their own copies of Ms. Shipman. One of them, Mr. Morgan, asked his class of 4th graders why they write. Their responses?
Why I write:
“Because I Can”
“It’s Fun and Why Not?”
“Because I Like to and it’s Funny”
“Because Ideas Come to Me and I Like to Put Them into a Story”
“Because Words Now in My Head”
“To Explain My Feelings”
“Because it Makes Me be a Reader”
“To Recall a Time in My Life That I Want to Remember”
“Because I Want to be an Author”
“So I Can Unleash What’s in My Mind”
“Because it’s Fun”
“Because You Can Say Anything You Are Thinking About”
“Because it Helps Me Express My Feelings”
“Because it Feels Like That I Love the Person I Am”
“Why Not It Calms Me and Makes Me Feel Good”
“Because It’s Important”
“Because I Love to Write”
“Because I Like It I Can Close my Eyes and I Love It”
“It Tells What I See or Do or Imagine”
“Because Mr. Morgan Tells Me To”
“Because it Makes Me Feel a Way that No Other Words Make Me Feel”
“I Love to Write at Home and At School”
Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.”
Kurt Vonnegut
Welcome to the crazy family of writers, Class of 2028. We need your voices. Keep writing!