100 Reasons Why I Write

I write lists. Lists of places to go, people to befriend, vegetables that grow in Zone 4, buildings likely to be haunted. They’re easier to read than paragraphs. Our attention spans are at a finger’s width by now, and our brains are as shallow as mining pans. All the better, I say, to catch the gold as it glitters.

But this list is so long, it might as well be in paragraphs.

That’s kind of the point of this list. The challenge was to see whether I could come up with a WHOLE 100 REASONS for ONE ACTIVITY. I’m glad to report I have succeeded.

I bolded the reasons I thought sounded nicest.

I write…..

1. To share enthusiasm and wonder.
2. In order to see.
3. To empty my mind.
4. To think.
5. To communicate wisdom in fresh ways.
6. Because it keeps me sane.
7. So that I can hear the Holy Spirit.
8. To lose myself.
9. For the feeling of finishing a race. 
10. To exorcize demons.
11. As an expedition into the imaginative landscape of my mind.
12. To dispel my own ignorance.
13. For God’s glory to increase. 
14. Because it’s the most natural way I express myself.
15. Because words are delicious.
16. Because it’s hard, and I like overcoming resistance.
17. Frankly, to shock others.
18. To focus my mind on what’s really important.
19. As baby steps to honesty.
20. Again, honesty.
21. And–I really need to stress this as much as possible–honesty.
22. In search of a taste of divine madness.
23. As reorientation. Reset.
24. Because good writing is powerful.
25. Because I have felt that power change me.
26. Because of Diana Wynne Jones, Stanley Weinbaum, N.D. Wilson, J.R. Tolkien, Shirley Jackson, Robert Lowell, T.S. Eliot, Sylvia Plath.
27. So I’m not a bored (aka boring) person.
28. Because stories organize chaos into a life. 
29. To rebel against bourgeois life. 
30. To remind myself that money can’t buy joy.
31. To build a stronger relationship with my inner child. 
32. Because I have a terrible memory.
33. When I can’t express my feelings out loud. 
34. To escape the past by means of the past.
35. To escape depression by means of expression.
36. To bathe and bask in magic.
37. For the lonely people. 
38. When I want to go through the looking glass. 
39. Because my mind has a low tolerance for reality, but when I drink it, I prefer it distilled. 
40. To become holy.
41. As a mooring after a storm.
42. For my children.
43. To become conscious.
44. Because it’s a lifelong sport.
45. As a record to measure progress.
46. Because photos are good symbols but have no heart.
47. To rediscover charming things that I’ve allowed myself to perceive as common.
48. To acknowledge my evil side.
49. To foster compassion.
50. Because an incongruity between appearance and reality is always fascinating to unpack.
51. As an intellectual drill.
52. To banish anxiety by focusing deeply on one thing.
53. As meditation.
54. As a prayer.
55. To sort out right from wrong.
56. As a collage. 
57. Because I want to read something really good, and I know exactly how to make it.
58. Because I want to. 
59. Because life is richer for it.
60. Because the human experience deserves reflection.
61. Because I’m compelled by a force outside of my control.
62. To give back to the community that’s given so much to me. 
63. Because I’m a showoff. 
64. Because it’s theoretical and practical at the same time. There’s logical deduction and scientific induction in writing a book.
65. That head and heart might be as one. 
66. To be sober, remembering good times in bad times and bad times in good.
67. To kill time. 
68. To feel safe and secure.
69. To become braver. 
70. To practice falling and getting up again. Criticism builds character. 
71. To tie together stages of my own life over time, so my sense of identity isn’t fractured but remains cohesive. 
72. Like I’m nibbling on a bar of dark chocolate, savoring every bit. 
73. To develop a perspective of the bigness of everything.
74. So I can have more interesting conversations. 
75. Because it reminds me of the value of every human being.
76. For the thrill of going down a dark tunnel without knowing what’s in it.
77. For discipline. It bleeds across to other areas of life. 
78. Out of pure hedonism. Frankly, it’s just fun. 
79. To explore possible worlds. 
80. To test the limits of how much our reality can transform. 
81. Because every story’s ending depends on the decisions of its characters. That’s empowering.
82. Because people are interesting.
83. Because I am curious.
84. As an outlet for intensity. 
85. Because the product doesn’t disappear. 
86. As an act of humility. 
87. Because the quality of my work matters. I’m not rewarded for drivel.
88. To develop skill at something.
89. To escape the gray city and see in color. 
90. Because it’s my way of fighting against the poison of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life that saturates our media through lifestyle influencers, pornography, politicians, and news agencies.
91. To build stepping stones of words to get us across dangerous rivers.
92. Because writing turns you into a specific kind of person, and I like that kind of person. 
93. As productive procrastination.
94. For other writers.
95. As an act of defiance. 
96. Because it is good when a thoroughbred is let loose in an open field.
97. To appreciate lives and beliefs that are very different from my own.
98. As play.
99. So that I am grateful for everything. Good and bad, indulgence and suffering are all fodder for story. 
100. For me.