Back in July, I wrote about digging a little deeper when it comes to why we write. Goal setting is great and I thrive on it (I love checking off tasks and gaining that sense of accomplishment), but it has been amazing how answering deeper questions about why I write – in general and also a particular story – has given me more motivation and a deeper sense of responsibility.
This past Saturday, I was thrilled to attend the “Day-Long, Kick-Butt, Get-Your-Writing-Year-in-Order Workshop” at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, which the instructor, Shari Caudron, had renamed “The Day-Long, Violence-Free, Energize-Your-Writing-and-Feel-Great-About-Yourself Workshop.” This workshop rocked. One of the best things was the way she had us start with questions and exercises that really got us thinking about how we see ourselves as writers, why we write, who we write for and so on before moving into more concrete goal-setting.
As I noted, I’d already been working on re-visioning myself as a writer, and Shari’s workshop helped solidify and clarify how I see myself and where I want to go. (NOTE: Just now I wrote “hope to go” and backspaced over it to change “hope” to “want.” “Hope” feels like it could hang out there forever and I don’t have to do anything about it. “Want” makes me feel like I can make it happen.) 🙂
The themes I kept seeing as I completed the exercises were: “uplift,” “inspire,” “provide hope and meaning” – all things that attracted me and I absorbed as a young reader and still look for in the books I choose to read.
Why do you write? What do you hope to share with the world? You don’t have to share your reasons here, publicly, but I hope you’ll take time to really explore that question and answer it for yourself. You may be surprised how it affects your writing and your writing life!
