Why Write?

Why Write? is a Writing Through Life category that discusses the various intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual benefits of journaling and life-writing on a regular basis.

One Writer’s Answer

April 11, 2013

At some point in her career, every writer attempts to answer the question, “Why do I write?” My answer has always been: I have no idea — no explanation, no justification, no purpose beyond the moment of my finished work. But now the question won’t leave me alone; it’s in my face demanding a response. [...]

Read the full article →

How Important are Your Life Stories?

January 21, 2013
Thumbnail image for How Important are Your Life Stories?

The article, “The Centenarian’s Secret,” in the 5-Minute Memoir section of February’s Writer’s Digest Magazine caught my attention. In it, author Diane Speare Triant describes her chance meeting with 103-year-old Nelson McNutt and of subsequently writing and publishing an article summarizing his life story. After his death two years later, Triant was given access to [...]

Read the full article →

A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: The Search for Meaning

September 10, 2012
Thumbnail image for A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: The Search for Meaning

“Our greatest desire, greater even than the desire for happiness, is that our lives mean something. This desire for meaning is the originating impulse of story.” Daniel Taylor, from introduction to tell me a story. I believe that the search for meaning is what drives writers to write, painters to paint, and musicians to play. [...]

Read the full article →

Why Write? Holding Onto Memories

September 4, 2012
Thumbnail image for Why Write? Holding Onto Memories

While researching my mother’s letters and journals for my upcoming memoir, A Mother Like Mine, I came upon the following entry, revealing one of the reasons for her incessant letter writing: Another fear had to do with my defective memory, fear of the darkness in the cave where my own experiences were buried. I owned [...]

Read the full article →

BlogTalk: Memoir, Journal Writing, and Story

August 31, 2012
Thumbnail image for BlogTalk: Memoir, Journal Writing, and Story

As I was in the process of developing my new workshop and soon-to-be course, Journaling for Writers, I spent time revisiting all the reasons for journaling that reach beyond the cathartic. Not that there’s anything wrong about writing for catharsis—it’s just that journaling often gets pigeonholed, as if it’s good only for emotional healing and [...]

Read the full article →

Blogtalk: Journaling to Cope

July 19, 2012
Thumbnail image for Blogtalk: Journaling to Cope

  It wasn’t that long ago that journaling was considered an odd use of time—at best, “navel gazing.” However, since research confirmed there are a number of benefits, including stress reduction and emotional healing, that result from writing regularly about emotions and thoughts (one way to use a journal), journaling has become something that “normal” people [...]

Read the full article →

Why Write? Journaling for Memoir

March 31, 2011
Thumbnail image for Why Write? Journaling for Memoir

When I want to write memoir, the first places I go for research (other than my memory) are my journals. They are my memory-keepers, containing more details of events and my responses to them than my feeble mind could ever hold. In addition to my perception of the facts (what happened), my journals contain descriptions [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries