If anyone can suck the joy out of a sentence, it's the federal government, and so the bill that officially decrees today as the National Day on Writing (and why is it "on" and not "of"?) will make you never want to read again, let alone write. Here's a little piece of it: Whereas people in the 21 st century are writing more than ever before for personal, professional, and civic purposes; Whereas the social nature of writing invites people of every age, profession, and walk of life to create meaning through composing; Whereas more and more people in every occupation deem writing as essential and influential in their work; Whereas writers continue to learn how to write for different purposes, audiences, and occasions throughout their lifetimes; It goes on, but you get the idea. To cleanse your palate, hop over to Twitter and check out the hashtag "whyiwrite." In honor of the National Day On Writing (or, as I like to call it, the National Day of Writing), people have been flooding Twitter with their muse, their inspiration, their devils, their angels, their dreams, their secret desires, all wrapped around why they write. The feed scrolls by so fast it's dizzying; people are that enthusiastic. You could categorize the tweets, if you were that kind of person. Here are some:
Mock-tough: Writing is like learning guitar. You only do it to get ladies. Earnest: because we tell ourselves stories in order to live, Didion said. Because there are always more stories to tell, retell, live for Optimistic: I write because words last forever Grateful: because I had fantastic professors who were amazing and urged me on Edgy: Because if I said what I think, I'd be arrested. Joyous: We have the best job ever: sit around from nine to five, make stuff up, go to lunch, then make more stuff up, then go home. Grandiose: I write because it's the closest I'll ever get to being God. Cynical: Becase working at the gas station was too upwardly mobile. Practical: It's a way of living vicariously without annoying your children. Wispy/dreamy: Because it hurts. Defiant: I write because I refuse to let others decide how the adventure turns out If you search (and don't get seasick from the whirling tweets), you can find some of your favorite writers in there, explaining what spurs them to write.
Neil Gaiman: "Because I can lie beautiful true things into existence & let people escape from inside their own heads & see through other eyes." And, a few minutes later, "Also, it's really fun." Says novelist Jennifer Weiner: "Because I love it. Because I don't have a choice. And because it pisses off the literati." And writer Terry McMillan: "Writing is one way I am able to empathize with others whom I most likely don't feel much empathy for." Hop over to Twitter and join the conversation.
