I've been thinking hard today about why I write, why I want to write more and why I want to get better at this. As can be expected, this is a work in progress, but here's what I have so far:
- I just plain admire writers. Writers who make the complex seem simple. Who make me laugh. Who make me cry. Writers who inspire me to live my life fully and do great things. I want to be one too.
- Writing makes me extroverted. Deep down I'm a really shy guy. I'm not the person who's going to make contact in a crowded room. It's a real force of will to make a phone call some days. But I'm a bolder, more outgoing person when I write.
- I want to teach. I want you to bake great bread. I want you to eat great bread. I don't ever want you to have a bad meal or a bad outing in Regina, or any city I've been to. I want to be a better person and help you be a better person.
- I want to entertain you. A nod. A smile. A belly laugh. I want to be the guy who makes your day better.
- I write to make sense of things. There are a lot of ideas rolling around in my noggin and writing helps me make sense of my own thoughts. I've written several posts that start as a problem and then have to be re-written, since the act of writing about the problem opens up the solution.
- I write to silence my inner critic. Left to its own devices, my mind will destroy me. Oh yes it will. 90% of the time my lizard brain is telling me I'm no good, I'm a fraud who will soon be found out, and I'm better off just quitting everything and go for a nap.
Bottom line for me is that I write to touch people. Whether it's a blog post or a love note. Whether I get a comment or it just fades away. I want to make a connection with you and change you a little.
Even if it's as simple as slicing your own bread.