If there's anything studying history has taught me, it's that the big names of the past love their manifestos. Whether you were a founding father or Karl Marx, Simón Bolivar or one of the women at Seneca Falls, if you wanted to be remembered, you took the time to put your guiding philosophies and worldviews to paper.  Because I consider myself a peer to the aforementioned figures, I decided to write my own manifesto about my purpose for writing, as a service to future generations seeking counsel and inspiration.  

 

Don't worry, that was a joke—I'm not that arrogant.  If I'm being entirely honest, the real reason I wrote a piece about why I write is because it was a requirement for the Minor in Writing gateway class.  But while I may not have chosen to create this sort of project on my own, I'm ultimately glad I did so. 

 

It's very strange thinking about why we do the things we like doing.  Too often I find myself saying simplistic things like "I read because I enjoy it" or "I watch three hours of ABC every Thursday night because Shonda Rhimes is my idol."  We dismiss our interests as being something innate, something that didn't come as the result of circumstance, experience, or hard work. Perhaps we do this because it can be uncomfortable trying to make sense of ourselves and our motives, or maybe because we're lazy and it's just easier to accept what we like for what it is.  

 

Years of that mentality are part of what made this assignment a challenge. "Why do I write, really?" I asked myself over and over again.  I've always known that I like writing and that I'm decent at it, but what else is it that motivates me to sit alone, behind a computer screen, battling writer's block and trying to make something beautiful for hours on end?  What do I get out of writing that I can't get out of anything else?  How am I different as a writer than I am as a person?

 

I try to make sense of these questions, along with some other musings, in my piece, "Trouble is My Pen Name."  In this essay, I go back to the beginning, to my genesis, and consider how I have evolved as a writer over time and where I intend to go in the future.  Being made to think about these things not only helped me understand myself and my writing better, but also has prepared me to create more directed, focused work as I continue through the minor and into my career.