Why I Write

Another one of those intriguing questions. I’ve thought about this a lot recently partly because of an article I read where a freelance, award winning journalist was bemoaning the fact that as a career, writing is a poorly paid profession. He was making a number of points but the one that really struck me was his discussion about how we may be turning the profession of writing over to hobbyists as opposed to well seasoned journalists. All of this, he argues, is partly the result of the internet, blogs and bloggers. So this made me realize that I needed to think more about my decision and choice to write and to share my writing with the world so to speak.

It is something all writers think about now and then I’m sure. In the process it really does help to clarify some things. For example, journalists, if they are any good at all, are hard working professionals who immerse themselves in research and fact finding. They dig, they interview, they write and rewrite but most importantly they make sure they have facts and quality sources. All of this slows reporting down which is one of the biggest concerns relative to the internet and its impact on good, professional, quality reporting. Stories get old very quickly these days and reporters, journalists and editors work in an extremely competitive environment. So thinking about all of this, it became pretty clear to me that I’m not a journalist and probably don’t have the wherewithal to be one anytime soon. I want to write and see the results more quickly.

So what about literary writing? Is that my style? Is that what I do? Perhaps a little, but I’m certainly no Hemingway or any other author that I can think of for that matter. But here’s what I know. I have stories and I have a little bit of a sense of how to convey them. I want my stories to be factually accurate but I’m not a fact checker in that very specific sense. What I really want to do is impact people and the way they think, the things they’re thinking about. I want to do it in as truthful a manner as possible,  but if a story I tell requires emotion I want it to be there in all of its glory. I want people to be able to feel and experience the topic or the subject. I want people to share in the journey - mine or others who I write about.  I guess it’s about soul and heart and feelings. All of those things that make us feel strongly about something. Stories do come from someplace we all know. They come from history and experience and many of us share those things in lots of different ways. Family, work, politics, spirituality, all of these are experienced and we have our own part of them. We also learn from them.

My Grandmother came to this country from a small village in Ireland. She traveled across the ocean with her sister and brother. She was 15 years old and the oldest of the three. She was a great storyteller and she never let too many facts get in her way as she told stories about cops in New York City or about cleaning seminarians rooms at Seton Hall or as she spun yarns about a character named Johnny McGlory back in Ireland. Her stories made us mainly laugh and sometimes cry. They made us think about that country far off that she missed so much. They made us understand that life wasn’t easy for everybody and that there were lots of different people in the world. Life lessons I guess. Her facts were in her memory of her experiences and her emotions were on her sleeve.

So perhaps I’m just a storyteller like her. Trying to tell the truth but also sharing emotion and feeling, as well as a few opinions along the way. I guess that’s some of why I write.