Why I Write

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At some point in a writer's life, they must examine the reason(s) for why they write. This assignment is my attempt to explain my own personal relationship with writing. For many, including myself, it is easy to identify why we started writing. Perhaps it was for a school assignment or for an emotional outlet during one of life's hard moments. It is much more difficult, however, to identify why we continue writing. This piece of writing reveals the ways that writing has been a part of my life. Because writing has played different roles to me during different times of my life, it is was challenging to create a piece that highlighted these differences while still flowing cohesively. After multiple drafts, the final product describes the ways writing has been in my life and how it has evolved over time. While I began writing to fill moments of solitude and loss during my adolescence, I eventually learned to write for others; I have a passion for creating writing that is linguistically pleasing and best read aloud. To assist in explaining my habits related to writing, I included a segment about my reading habits. While at first I was worried including such information would distract from the purpose of this paper, I realized that understanding reading habits is essential for understanding one's writing habits. I expanded on my reading habits in my final draft in order to help my audience better understand Why I Write. Though creating this piece was difficult because it required me to recall my relationship with writing which has lasted almost 20 years, it allowed me reflect on the ways my writing has developed over time and how it has helped me keep sane.