I first published this post in January 2014. People often seem to come back to it and that includes me, so no apologies for re-publishing it now…with a slight update
A Manifesto
Whenever I have serious doubts about my work or about the world around me, like Brexit and Trump, and everything despicable they stand for, when I am bogged down with feelings of inadequacy, of not being a good enough writer, of not being successful enough, when I’m between projects and wondering what to write next or where my writing is going, when I’m reluctant to get out my notebook or sit at the machine, when I ask myself what the point of all of this is, then it is inevitable that I ask the question why write at all?
Below is my answer, it’s what grounds me, and time and time again it has brought me back to what’s important, to a place where I can start again…
- I write because I discovered I could, because after years of looking for ways to express my creativity, without ever feeling whole, I finally found what it was I could best do. What it was I wanted to do.
- I write to connect with the world, to reflect the lives of people who live on the margins, who others might think unimportant.
- I write to make myself whole, to disappear in the act of writing, to lose myself completely, so that time passes unnoticed.
- I write to spend time in other worlds that fascinate me.
- I write because I get my own room with books and flowers.
- I write because I love reading and words and I love polishing my words over and over.
- I write because then I am never lonely.
- I write to give purpose to my life.
- I write because now I have to, I must, it has become an essential part of who I am.
- I write because it brings me great joy and takes me to many places.
Why do you write? Write your own manifesto. Copy it up, print it out and put it somewhere it cannot be ignored .
