The Why of Writing

James Thurber once said, “I never quite know when I’m writing”. Ditto, Mr. Thurber. I get you. Often times I find myself rearranging words in my head while in the midst of a conversation with my five year old on the merits of telling the truth or the definition of ‘tacky’. Don’t forget to write it down, I tell myself, because, the file system in my head, well, it’s jam-packed. And if I don’t write it down, it’s liable to never again see the light of day.

Writing gives me a linear outlet to express myself and my circular maze of logic. Besides, my mental filing system has become outdated since my journey into Mommydum. The “Mommydum” file, wedged in between the “Daughter I’m sure I was” and the” Wife I think I am” files would be totally inaccessible had I not began to blog.

Write what you know. Sure, that’s how it started. I would blog about myself and my family, life, love and relationships. But I soon came to the realization that I was writing to discover meaning in the caveats of these, aforementioned areas. Things that I really had not discovered until the moment I typed them out and reread them to myself. The writing process, at least for me is more about where I end up and most often, it’s a diversion from the path I thought I had been on all along. When I reach my final destination at the end of a post, I look around and think, wow, that was not at all where I thought I would end up. But, and this is the true beauty of it, It’s most always a better place than I had imagined all along. And that, is where the why of writing comes from. Although I may not always know when I’m writing, at least now I realize why.