Why Writers Write
by Cindy Hannah

Some of today’s experts will tell you that all of us are born writers, which is as absurd as stating that anyone can run a four-minute mile. Words for a writer effervesce like bubbles in a flute of champagne; they must rise to the surface.  There’s no holding them back.  Oh, sure, each of us can labor through an essay, or pen a letter to a friend, but in order to truly connect with a reader and draw them in requires the innate ability to initiate a relationship with and truly captivate one’s audience. 

The art of “exceptional” writing cannot be taught.  The original “writing seed” must be planted in an individual for it to be cultivated and reach its full potentiality.  Good writing flows from a writer like water cascading over a waterfall. Breathtaking, powerful, memorable. 

Writing is a writer’s passion, paramour, and primal need.  It cannot be ignored.  It must be acknowledged, courted, and acted upon.  Just as we must intake air to survive, writing is the oxygen that fuels a writer’s body, spirit, and mind; quite literally, it is what keeps a writer sane. 

A writer’s mind overflows with ideas incessantly.  We cannot imprint them on paper quickly enough.  By acknowledging what we have to say, we release the pressure pulsing within us.  Consider the contents of a soda can.  If the can is shaken enough, its contents will expand to the point where the can will literally explode.  Unwritten words for a writer are like the contents of that shaken can; eventually they, too, will force their way out. It is our obligation as writers to allow the words to be written. We do not have the right to silence them.  We are governed by what we scribe, and—yet—we would have it no other way. 

We write out of necessity, but also out of the desire to teach, to connect, and to inspire.  Although some of our stories may seem trite and insignificant to some, others may find them life-altering.  That is why we write; for the opportunity to make a reader understand, smile, laugh, or cry.  This done, we have truly served our paramour: the written word.