Have you ever wondered why people write?
What their motivation is to put words onto paper or letters on a screen?
I have. So I asked around.
Someone told me he had “100s of reasons”. I didn’t believe there could be so many reasons. But more answers started coming in and everyone seems to have a different reason. So maybe there are 100s, or maybe even more.
Writers sent me answers in the style of a blogpost. Exciting answers with up to five bullet points. Powerful answers. Life-changing. And answers as simple as “I write because I like to create.”
I could try to curate the answers into categories but I won’t. I’ll let them do the work for me this time. The writers deserve this.
Here’s why people write:
- “Distilling my thoughts to ideas to insights to share with others is why I write.”
- “To publicly embarrass myself on the internet? Kidding. Mostly.”
- “Lately, it’s been more therapeutic and creative—to channel that energy.”
- “To make money. People pay me lawyer-level rates for copywriting”
- “It began as part of my therapy, following my car accident. Part of my cognitive recovery. It turned out, I enjoyed it!”
- “I like impacting others, and it’s fun to create things!”
- “You can learn anything, even about you, by writing.”
- “To be a lighthouse for like-minded people”
- “To blend thoughts and information into ideas that have the capacity to impact the future.”
- “I started writing because I wanted to become famous overnight lol. Now, I just write because it helps me know what’s going on with these ideas.”