RTW: For the love of writing…

Road Trip Wednesday is a ‘Blog Carnival,’ where the ladies at YA Highway post a weekly writing- or reading-related question for participants to respond to on their own blogs. You can hop from destination to destination and get everybody’s unique take on the topic.

Today’s Topic: What’s your numero-uno reason for writing?

I write because I love it. I really, really do. I think you HAVE to love writing to make an honest go at a career in it. All of the challenges, all of the nos, all of the endless hours and sleepless nights and blank pages with their blinking, taunting cursors. All of the aggravation and doubts and deleted words… Writing is hard. If you don’t genuinely love it, you’ll throw in the towel the moment the going gets too tough.

But, even though I do really and truly love writing, I don’t think that’s numero-uno reason I do it.

Simply, I write because I can’t NOT write. 

I write for the same reasons many people go to church. Writing grounds me, centers me, calms me. It drains my frustration, is an outlet for bottled up emotion, and it allows me imagine fantastical possibilities. Writing lets me create and discover new people, new places. It gives me something to focus on when life becomes disorderly. Writing gives me a tiny fraction of control over what is essentially a wildly disobedient world.

Also, writing can be such fun!

What about you? What’s the number one reason YOU write?

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36 thoughts on “RTW: For the love of writing…”

  2. aleeza rauf says:

    Writing gives me a tiny fraction of control over what is essentially a wildly disobedient world.

    I know, right, Katy?! Sometimes I like being the one who gets to decide what happens to my characters, unlike the total discontrol I have over my own. Also: discontrol…I have no idea how I came up with that word. Which is just another thing I love about writing: coming up with new words my characters like to use. 😀

  6. Jaime says:

    This is a really great answer 🙂 It’s nice being able to control what happens in your stories because none of us is lucky enough to have that same ability in our real lives (to a certain extent). I also like “I write to know what my heart thinks” over the little picture.

    • katyupperman says:

      Yep. It takes a serious amount of love and dedication to endure the tough moments and continue to plug away. I always try to keep the fact that it’ll all be worth it in the end in mind. Thanks, Tracey!

  10. Francesca Zappia says:

    Great post! I completely agree–whenever I’m upset or frustrated, I go write. And I honestly don’t think someone could or would deal with all the rejection and hours and hours of work if they didn’t really love it.

    • katyupperman says:

      “I honestly don’t think someone could or would deal with all the rejection and hours and hours of work if they didn’t really love it.”

      Exactly! If I didn’t truly love the process of writing and how it makes me feel, I definitely would have quit after the FIRST rejection. It’s too hard to be told no repeatedly if you’re not passionate about what you’re doing.

  13. Meredith says:

    Yes. So well said, Katy. It’s just like you said. If you don’t love, you’ll find a reason to stop. But if you just HAVE to do it, you can’t imagine stopping. Well, the way you said it was more eloquent, but you get what I’m saying. 😉

  14. Alison Miller says:

    “I write because I can’t NOT write.”

    SO TRUE.

    Beautiful, Katy. I feel the same way. PS – almost called my post the same thing too. I have decided that we’re soul bloggers. 🙂

    • katyupperman says:

      Soul bloggers… love it! Honestly, every time I see you’ve posted something new, I get so excited to read it because I know I’ll totally agree, which means it’ll be genius. Ha!

  15. Rebecca B says:

    Awesome post. I love how you brought up the meditative aspects of writing. It can be so cathartic to write a scene and draw upon your own related emotions, whether the emotions are positive or negative.
    And yeah–it is fun! (Sometimes I think I blog more about the challenges–so I should focus on the happy aspects, too)

    • katyupperman says:

      Writing really is fun! I feel like I get hung up on the struggles a lot too, but if writing didn’t bring me massive amounts of joy, I probably wouldn’t do it. And you’re right, it really is cathartic to dump everything you’re feeling (good or bad) onto the page.

  17. Christa says:

    I don’t think my reasons are nearly as spiritual. But it is a different call. I write to get the stories and voices out of my head. I write to be able to function and not have people wonder what is wrong with me (they may do this anyway).

    • katyupperman says:

      I think our answers are fairly similar, Christa. It sounds like writing balances you and gives you an outlet for whatever emotions are inside… me too! And I highly doubt people are wondering what’s wrong with you. Unless, possibly, you’re toting your flask to to grocery store mid-day. 🙂

  18. Erin Bowman says:

    “I write because I can’t NOT write.” This is it for me too! It makes me. It is part of who I am and I’m not me if I don’t write. In fact, if I don’t write, I become some crazed version of my self, strung out on too many characters and plot lines and potential dialog exchanges swimming around in my head. Yes, I love to write. But I love it because without it, I’m not full.

    I wonder if that made any sort of coherent sense. Either way, great post, Katy. ❤

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