Why I Write

Why do I write?  And more importantly when did I start thinking of myself as a writer?  Well I kind of just happened to fall into it.  I would say it all started with my college applications.  I originally wanted to apply to Chapman University’s’ Film Production major, but due to last minute decisions and missing the early decision deadline, the deadline for all prospective film production students, I decided to apply to the screenwriting program instead.  It was then that I entertained the notion of being a writer.

It has always been a strange concept to think of myself as a writer, both in the light of it sounding like self proclaiming bullshit, but more importantly because I am dyslexic.  Growing up it never crossed my mind that I would be chasing a career in writing, but maybe it was meant to be.  I like to think of myself as an observant person and to me writing is all about observing.  Observing everything, the world around you, the world around others, the stories people share, and the ways other writers write.  All these things being great things to pull from as a writer and an important tool for growth.  In fact I would even go as far to say that good observation is more important than actual writing skill, for it is much easier to learn how to write better then to learn how to witness world.

In this era we are all writers from one degree to another.  It is something that is inescapable in our modern time.  We do it voluntarily, we do it daily, and we do it at times because we have to.  Growing up is a prime example, not one person has grown up through the education system without having to write multiple essays along with projects, letters, and reports.  It is something that is presented to us at a young age and encouraged through out development .  And when we grow up and put away such things we keep one thing regardless and that is the ability, no more so then that, the need to write.  Its a daily occurrence in which the need is fulfilled in the form of blogging, and posting,  and online discussion, in business memos and emails.  Hell we even take preference to writing a message to someone on a tiny screen and sending that message then call on the phone.  In the past century it has become the fundamental way in which we all communicate and yet it has been a mode of communication for millenniums.

I write for the screen, but is that the writing career I want to pursue or is that a mere stepping stone for a bigger ambition into the film world.  I have not yet fully decided, but I think that’s part of the point, not deciding and seeing where it all takes me.  Maybe it’s foolish or lazy or even just juvenile, but life’s going to do what it wants to do regardless of my plans and I’m open to that. “Life is what happens to you when your busy making other plans” -John Lennon