Writing Compulsion

For me, writing is more a compulsion than an art.

For instance, as you may or may not be already aware, I write poetry as well as essays, papers, and observations. This being the case, I observed long ago that I cannot force myself to write a poem; the results will not be good. I never sit down without any ideas and decide to create a poem. That is not how I work. I write poems through the following method: I go about my daily life and occasionally something will strike me and usually about two lines, sometimes more, are put together in my brain. If I have paper and a writing implement available to me at that moment, I sit down, write down the lines in my head and from there, the full length poem works itself out. Usually within half an hour after the first lines came to me, the poem is complete. Because this is the way I write poetry, however, it means that I can go indefinitely without writing anything and then suddenly several poems will occur to me in a matter of days. For the most part, though, I write one every few months as thoughts occur to me.

My non-school related essays are written in much the same way. I will be reading a book, watching a movie, or just sitting in my room thinking or pondering something, and the idea of the essay will occur to me. Again, if paper and a writing implement are available, I sit down and write until the idea runs its course. Most of my blog posts have occurred to me in this way. Two in particular that came into being through this method were two posts entitled "Hobbits and Wizards: A Simple Life" and "Wisdom or Knowledge".

I enjoy writing in this way, although it can sometimes be annoying. For instance, when I was inspired to write "Hobbits and Wizards", I had just started watching the Fellowship of the Ring. Once the essay occurred to me, however, I stopped the movie and sat down to write. As a result of this, I did not watch any more of the movie that evening; I was too busy writing. Like I said - fun and annoying. The writing in itself is fun and I enjoy the flow of thoughts from my mind to the paper, but if I had really just wanted to watch the movie or read the book or do whatever it was that originally inspired the essay, it can be frustrating to have to pause to write the ideas down before I forget them. On occasion, I have not had access to writing implements when the idea occurred to me and by the time I do have access to them, I have forgotten or lost the flow of the idea. That can be frustrating and disappointing as well.

For the most part, however, I do truly enjoy writing. I get excited whenever the first lines to a poem or the original thought for an essay occur to me, and I am always pleased with the results. This inclination of mine is another reason I created this blog - so that when ideas do occur to me, I have a place to share them with you. I hope you are also pleased and intrigued with the results of my "writing compulsions". I am always thrilled to receive feedback on them from others.