Something personal #1.

Why I write
Robert L. Fielding

Why does anyone want to write: to express themselves, for therapeutic reasons, for a hobby, to see their name in print, to make their mark on the world, as a means of becoming rich and famous, or, in the words of Stephen King, because ‘Not to write is a kind of suicide.’

Well, yes, for all those reasons – well most of them, but the last one – King’s opinion sort of sums up what writing is for me although I wouldn’t go as far as him, but I know what he means.

I write as often as possible – every day – two or three times a day – because I have to. On the days when I can’t get to my keyboard or a notebook (rare), I don’t feel right.

Or let me put it this way; when I write – while I am writing – rereading what I have written – changing it – editing it and adding to it again – I feel alive, I feel part of the world.

A writer is an observer – true – but writing isn’t passive, it’s an activity, like talking. Writing is doing something – making something new. And that’s the attraction for me – making something new from my thoughts – from my own words.

Don’t ask me how – I don’t know – who does? Nevertheless, that is what I do – and why I do it. I know this is going to sound like a cliché – I’ll say it anyway – writing is discovering – discovering who you are and what you know – it’s synthesising, coordinating, creating, and yes, discovering – discovering what you know and what you think.

And if I didn’t write, there would be a part of me that I would have less access to, but I do write and I do know more about myself because I write – that’s why!
Robert L. Fielding
(NB.For details of availability of this article, please contact Robert L Fielding – fieldingrob3@hotmail.com)