Why I Write
A draft for my MFA assignment
A week 1 assignment for my MFA program at Lindenwood University involves writing up to 1000 words in response to the prompt, “why I write.” It’s an age-old question, of course, and one that many writers have tackled. Perhaps most famously, George Orwell published a small volume on this. A copy is sitting somewhere on my bookshelf dedicated to writing guides and dictionaries.
Although many writers have asked and answered it, it remains a salient question, and it feels like an interesting way to begin an MFA program. It’s the writers' equivalent of “why are you here” or “what do you want to get from this experience.” It’s a degree or two short of getting you to state your goals as a writer, you could feasibly answer the question by listing them.
Why I write is a bit of a two-pronged answer. I was at a Mary Beard presentation this week and honestly, the biggest takeaway from hearing her speak, fairly consistently actually, is that I want to write more and publish more. I’ve already got to my career planner and listed out the various books I want to write next year, and I’m more motivated than ever (although currently task avoiding) to finish the two book projects I currently have on the go. Once I get those out of the way, I tell myself, I can turn to newer projects that I will also find more compelling, at least in the beginning and relative to the projects I am finishing up right now. Apparently my enthusiasm for writing projects wanes as I get towards the end.
Anyway, the first part of my answer is that I write because I am an academic and it is part of the job. I love writing academic research and sharing it with the world at large. Okay, the sharing part is daunting, but I like being part of the conversations that occur around topics I care about.
The second part of my answer is about creative, and although I have always done creative writing, it necessarily tapers off when I have other writing to do. I don’t do it nearly as much as I would like to, and I want to do it more. That said, I have written a novel that I want to put out into the world relatively soon. I’ve decided to eschew traditional publishers and self-publish, but that is a bit of a process to manage and I am still working my way through it with novel number one. I’ve also got plans and drafts for a second novel, and the point of my doing the MFA is actually to get the second novel done sooner rather than later. I have the plan, I just need to actually sit down and write it. Famous last words!
But even sitting here and writing out what I have to do or what I should be doing with my writing is getting me to think about how I can do what I need to do, and thus the process is already working.
When my creative writing group meets, sometimes I ask the participants to think about what their writing goals are for the month. Even when they don’t necessarily have specific goals, I feel like asking them to think about what their goals might be is a step in the right direction to helping them achieve something that looks like results.
I read an article for my course the other day that said to trust in habit over inspiration. I agree with that, actually. There are times you can be inspired and it just works, but you don’t control that. It’s the essence of what artificial intelligence can’t model or replace. Habit, though, is reliable and controllable. You can develop it as surely as you can develop any routine, and you control how it manifests. From the routine, you generate the results you want - words on the page, a finished book.
I write because I enjoy it and I think creative writing reflects our humanity.