Why Women Write

There are as many reasons to write, as there are women writers. It's an intriguing subject, and I'd like to know why you write? By the way, the Dust Bunnies Chapter of my book Writing the Wise Woman Within, is devoted to this subject. If you email your name and address, your response will be considered for inclusion in the book .

I write because ....click here

For now, here are some of the reasons that have been sent to me, but only some of them. Your response will be different from the others, because of that facinating thing called individuality.

     I write because language is my field (I teach English and Spanish and literacy), and because I am enchanted by Irish imagery (see Niall Williams, author). Language that evokes scenes, scents, descriptive of hills and forest and waterfalls. I wish to write more, to find more inspiring writing to urge me along the path.

     I write because there is an inner voice, full of feeling, clarity and wisdom, that wants to express itself. Writing from that place *feels* wonderful ...Katie Rose

     I have always loved to write. Although my first love is poetry, writing in any form is very enjoyable to me. Writing is a spiritual release for me and keeps me in touch with everything and everyone around me. It allows me to touch others with hopes that I may warm their hearts or help broaden their thoughts. I write because it is a part of my life that I cannot live without! On paper I am able to delve into my innermost dreams, desires and wishes, or, deal with loss, resentments, love ............ life!! When a pen freely dances across blank pages ones life can come pouring out.....love, hurt, success, disappointments, life's rewards and curses. Writing has helped me come to peace with childhood losses and disappointments; it has also given me a true and accurate picture of who I am and where and who I want to be! I write because it is a part of me ...Lori Young, jayoung@jayco.net

    Inspiration usually comes from the most simple places and things. It's doing something with the inspiration that makes one a successful writer. The words often come unbidden, but acting on them has always been a struggle for me. The words often interrupt my dreams with their insistence. They beg for me to give them birth and for a time I am once again a believer that all things are possible. However, I am easily swayed by the negative and rejection has always been difficult for a person who went out of her way to make everyone like her ...Mary Lucker, mel0716@yahoo.com

     I've always had a "wonderful feeling" about writing, but I never really tried to specifically answer the question: "Why do I write?" until you asked me. In the interim, I've covered many pages of my journal. I feel I have reduced the basic ideas to two paragraphs, but they are, nonetheless, a "first draft." I know that some poets say you should wait at least six months before submitting anything!
     Why do I write? It takes me "hors du monde!" --- outside of the immediate moment, instantly! ...to a "private place" where you can be your truest self; where you can whisper what you will, scream strident strophes of pain, anger, rage; recall loves, tender moments, meditate, relive, transform --- unroll the yardage of the bolt of fabric, like the Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered with your life's tale. Writing is an immediate launch into an altered state, a link with the plenitude of other dimensions where I speak a magic language. As Ezra Pound said, an image is "...that which presents an intellectual and emotional complex in an instant of time." And as Novalis said: "...the seat of the soul is where the inner and outer worlds meet." That is the realm of poetry, where these edges silkily nudge each other or stiffen like crossed weapons, ready to do combat! ...Emile George

     As for why I write, I have been fascinated with books and writing since learning to read. And when I discovered in 4th grade that one did not have to be rich to own a book I was filled with wonder. Needless to say, I have to cull once a year or the books would take over the house ...Lucy Kaufman

    I write to make a new path to my future. I write to help others make a new path to theirs. I wrote "40 Flowers of Grief: A Journal for Women to Help Overcome Debilitating Grief and Depression" to help my own healing process in order to overcome a lifetime of grief and depression and to help others to understand why depression is so debilitating ...Connie Yoder, Cyoder@alltel.net

     I write because I have a lifelong love affair with language. Writing is the Art that most strikes me with awe. I love live theatre and have been privileged to attend many performances starring the best of the best on Broadway, but behind every stitch of admiration and appreciation, the greatest share goes to the writer. How does the writer collect all of those memories and overheard snatches of thousands of stories and blend them into paragraphs which keep us turning pages or listening with all our might? All my life I have said that if heaven is anything like we imagine it to be as children, and I get to go there, the first thing I will ask for is the ability to sing beautifully in any range or style and the second thing I'd ask for is to be a gifted playwright. I'm happy others have not waited for Heaven. ...Carol Fuss, cfuss@earthlink.com