’Why I Write” was prompted quite some time ago from a writing prompt “I write because….”

So, exactly why do I write? Why am I writing these 100 Days of Art posts about myself, and my art?

Flannery O’Connor once said “I write because I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” There is a lot of truth in this for me.

I Write Because…

“I write because…” seems a daunting way to begin a blog post.  It’s too definitive for me. I’ve always been more meandering and reflective. Trying to pin down something specific often makes it disappear. I prefer to sneak up on the idea I want to capture.  Confronting it head-on rarely results in an insight.

What I do know is that I have always had the urge to write, and that I can express myself more clearly in writing than in speech.

Capturing Moments

Reading back through old journal entries I am still surprised by some of the thoughts which were captured through free associative writing with a set time limit of thirty minutes.  That’s just long enough to lose myself in the flow of ideas from brain, through my arm and hand, to the pen on the page.  The rhythm of the action takes over and the inner critic falls asleep. The buzzer to stop writing always seems to happen just at the point where I have written down something I never consciously knew.

If I look back through my writing, the common thread is that each piece attempts to capture a moment in time. It happens through capturing context.

Non-fiction and poetry are my two natural genres.  Not because I want to share my life story. but more because I am trying to find truth in a sea of ambiguity. Often my key question is “How did this eventuate?”

Art vs Writing

In my visual art, there is an element of this too. Something I’ve started to think about is how my writing practice and my visual art practice relate to each other. Intuitive art is akin to free associative writing. The ideas emerge through the process:

In visual art, I capture ambiguity to explore it. In writing, I unpick ambiguity to understand it.

These acts are linked, but not the same. One is an inner journey. The other an external one.

In addition to the Journal To The Self course I offer, I will be running some workshops exploring the connection between art and writing. If you’re interested, sign up for my newsletter to keep informed.