I was sitting here tonight (two minutes ago actually) and not even thinking about why I write. I was busy replying to the blog sites that I subscribe to, connecting to as many people as possible when I heard it.
My wife laughed out loud.
I was in my recliner, doing my thing, listening to what you guys in the blog world have to say, adding my two cent’s worth, and she just laughed out loud from our bedroom.
Watching a television show, she just laughed out loud.
Then it hit me and hit me hard.
Those of us who write fiction, poetry, or paint or sculp, or act or tell jokes or sing…or any damn thing else creative that I have forgotten to mention, that is really why we are doing this thing.
For the laugh.
Or the sigh.
Or a grin.
For the reaction!
Did my wife laugh at something on a television show?
No!
She laughed because of something that grew out the mind of creative person – actor or writer’s idea – and touched her in such a way that made an impression, an impression that made her laugh.
Who among you that aspires to be creative, that puts your work out there for the world to examine, doesn’t live for that moment when your work is accepted?
A laugh.
A sigh.
A grin.
I want to hear from you.
Tim
Timkeen40's Blog 
The purpose is served with even just one.
Definitely! All forms of expression need a dialogue!! I think as writers though we have such few opportunities to see our work responded to.
Thanks for reading, agreeing, and responding.
It is much harder than it used to be for sure. Internet, twitter, and all the other forms of entertainment has limited the places a writer can get something published and read.
Of course, this internet has also allowed us this forum, to circumvent established means of publishing, allowing us to reach out and connect one on one with readers in ways we never could have before. So I guess it is not all bad.
Thanks for the comment! Please come back again.
Tim
Hey Tim, sorry what I meant was that even when our work sees print, we don’t get to see reader response. AFter I’d had a few articles in print, I realized after walking into a store and seeing the magazine that people all over the city had read my articles, but it didn’t feel like it because I had no way to really know that, other than using my imagination (if that makes any sense at all??).
Jennifer,
Gotcha! Sorry I misunderstood the point of your post.
Tim
That is an interesting perspective… worth mulling over.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Happy new year
Thanks for reading and mulling it over. Please come back again.
Tim
Yes, the whole point is to touch someone else! Whether it’s a laugh, smile, sigh, or tear, just knowing someone has a kindred moment is priceless. Those who create don’t do it for money (though it can be a wonderful benefit), they do it to touch others.
I can attest to the fact that I don’t do it for the money. I haven’t made any, yet.
But I get it. Even though I don’t have any money from writing, I get it. Why doesn’t Mr. King or Mr. Koontz stop? They have enough money, right?
Why doesn’t Bill Gates stop? Why does Elton John keep singing?
You get my point. Money be damned, that’s all they know.
I go on vacation once a year and spend a third of it writing. If I made a million dollars a year, I’d go on vacation four times a year and spend a third of writing.
Thanks for chiming in.
I hope to hear from your again!
Tim
Tim,
You are soooo right! That’s why when you commented on my story, it made my day. We create because it feels good while we are doing it – that ‘perfecting” of our craft, but ultimately so others can enjoy also.
DEBI
Debi,
That is an absolutely awesome story you have going there. If anyone is reading this post, please check this writer out. Please start at Chapter One. This is good.
Debi,
I hope you don’t mind a little nudge towards your blog.
Come back again,
Tim
Nudge away!
http://tothinkornottothink.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/always-writing-part-3/
More chapters soon!
For me its hunger.
I want to conquer the creative spirit and make it my own. lol
BUT the communication between artist and appreciator is by and large the most important ingredient for such success.
So yes, the reaction is everything.
Thanks for your input!
I hope I have written something that matters to you.
Tim
My biggest goal is to make someone cry.
One of the things agents and publishers look for is that reaction. It takes skill for the words to leap off the page and make us feel. Getting that reaction from your reader speaks for itself: job well done! There have been few writers who have made me cry, but more still that have made me angry, aggravated, scared, tense, thrilled, surprised, anxious, nervous to my stomach with worry and butterflies, and everything that the character is feeling at the moment. I have laughed out loud to many writers, have even found myself talking to my books from being completely in sync because I can relate to the character, and I feel for them.
Every writer works to move their reader, to make the words come to life, because that is what writing is. Many forget that we are entertainers as much as we are artists, too. We write to entertain, to reach people through our words. It’s like going to see a movie. For an hour and some change, from the time we sit in that theater seat, we are in another world right up until the end. The moment that reader cracks open our books, they are sucked into our world until their eyes leave that page.
That’s what I aim for the most. As a reader, I love feeling as if I have just woken up from a good dream or just walked out of a movie theater after closing my book, or as if I am coming up out of the water after hours of plummeting down from the high dive. As a writer, I want to suck my character in and drown them so completely that they forget to come up for air! I want them to fall into my book as easily as they would fall into water. I want them to struggle to break the surface as it would be to crawl out of a rushing current or tidal waves.
To simply write words across a blank page takes a tremendous amount of effort. But to paint across the blank canvas, to breathe life into those words that can easily translate into feeling takes true talent and a skill like no other.
We are alchemists, scientists, and magicians with a knack for words.
Thanks for this lovely post, and for allowing me to share.
By the way, did I ever tell you that I love your blog, too?
I have tried to answer this one in so many different ways. I have started the reply and stopped the reply.
What do I say to someone who loves to write as much as I do? Who feels the power of the pen as much as I do?
We are alchemists, scientists, and magicians with a knack for words!
I don’t think I can improve upon that!
I will leave you with my own little take.
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and I think that is true…
… to the one who painted the picture.
For the writer, a picture is a thousand words that have yet to be written.
Tim
I’m glad to inspire emotion, but when I hear I made someone laugh that makes me elated. Great, thought provoking post!
I think you’ve said it all!! I write because I know that’s how I can get my emotions out and share them with others. And when others can relate to my poems, I know I’m not alone..there are others who feel like me. I feel proud when I can bring a smile on someone’s face or make them see things in a different light just with one poem. And, sometimes I write simply because I like writing, it brings me closer to myself and allows me to listen to my soul!!
Thank you for making this post 🙂
Thanks for reading my post and leaving these great comments.
Tim
I think I write to keep myself sane out here in the country! I like having the blogging relationships, and sharing a bit about the life I live (and reading about others). That’s about it.
Happy New Year!
Thanks for taking a look. Please come back.
Again, thanks so much!
Tim
A laugh. A sigh. A grin. A tear. Oh yeah – that makes complete sense! And very well said. 🙂 Happy New Year!
I am glad you liked it. Please visit again. Happy New Year to you!
Tim
Tim,
This is a GREAT post! It made me remember that if you can make one person laugh/cry/think any emotion whatsoever about your work then you’ve succeeded.
Christi Corbett
http://christicorbett.wordpress.com
Christi,
I am glad you liked this post. It means so much to have people to accept what you do.
I felt a personal connection to Captain Obvious, as I think any writer will. Have I already said that? Does this story sound like the last one I wrote? These things are always in my mind as I write.
Please come back!
Thanks,
Tim
am back again…
why do i write,
it’s for situations like this, i find myself writing to respond to that question. it’s like a vicious cycle… where you write to find out why you write then you realise you have already written and you still can’t really tell why!
As a performer, i write performace poetry and i know why i write them… coz i need to perform..
as a blogger poet, i write. i just do… i write before i sleep i write in my dreams i write coz i feel. I am most humbled when one connects with my writing and is not scared to tell me coz on screen, we are (screenmates) digi soulmates. 🙂 I write coz I can break the rules, I write to live!!
Why do i write , i still can’t point 🙂
Have a blessed year ahead!
love and light
You write because you can connect with other writers…
You write because you can break the rules…
You write to live…
With all that being said, may I make an observation…
You also live to write…
I am glad you are back again…
Five weeks ago I had rarely sought someone’s take on my thoughts…
Now I can’t wait to hear it…
Please, God Please, come back again.
Tim
…that is really why we are doing this thing…For the reaction!…
…I definitely agree with this…for in that reaction there is a connection made that makes the world seem a little less lonely…it is truly a wonderful feeling. (^_^)
Thank you so much.
Yeah, A number of people sing, in the shower or in the car. When you stand in front of people and sing or you put onto a CD and let others hear it, then there is only one reason for that…
You want to know what they think…
Thanks for stopping by…
Tim
Hi Tim!
All writers want to know that their words have left some sort of impression behind to those who have read their work. I was able to undestand this more fully once I started to receive feed back from readers after my novel was published.
Great post!
Laura,
Thanks again for stopping by with comments. It is very much appreciated.
Happy New Year to you!
Tim
Happy New Year!
Lisa,
Happy New Year to you as well.
Tim
Interesting interview idea Tim! 🙂
I do not know why I have this urge to write, – well that will lead us into your other post now :D, but I am still trying to figure out!
But, I do know my reaction to when someone who reads me gets the gist of what I am trying to say and connect with me, that to me is powerful!
Hope you are feeling the connection my friend, Happy New Year to you and the wife!!
Rachana.
I write because there are so many stories i’d love to read that haven’t been written yet.
I write because it cleanses my withins…not writing clogs my body …writing makes me light…
Yes, agreed, we want to share…we want to reach out and touch yes yes yes.
Thanks for the visit 🙂
I am happy you stopped by. We the writers have something to say. If we didn’t we wouldn’t be writers.
Thanks so much for taking the time!!!
Tim
Hi Tim!
You’re really a great kind of person. Your ideas come out from very natural things. Haha. 🙂
Anyway, me too, I write because I want to be able to create something. May it be a smile on ones face, an ‘aha’ moment because I imparted a bit of wisdom, or a realization. I am happy to write as well as to know that the people who read my work are happy because what I write made them be. I hope you can read my work and give me a laugh, smile, or a grin, too. Thank you!
Judy
Thanks, Judy. I will be reading your work.
Tim
It’s about that. You’re right, Tim, but it’s about more than that. It’s about creative expression, it’s about planting seads, it’s about reading out with love, it’s about healing …it’s about being human.
Jamie,
You are, of course, right on with you observations. My favorite point that I like to make about reading and why it is still the most important form of communication we have is just what you have said. The writer can not be truly objective when writing. A piece of that writer – who that writer is personally – can not help but go into the piece being written.
Thanks for the reply.
Tim
Simple yet powerful point. Makes all the sense in the world, but we tend to forget, don’t we?
it’s more fun to get a reaction out of someone–even if just one person.. than to wallow alone in words
Sometimes I feel embarressed at how eagerly I look for comments. Evensomeone clicking the Like button for me leaves me astonished. That being said, I write (or any other creative outlet) because of the process…that way of losing track of all time, of connecting with my Creator, of allowing the creation to be born through my pen, piano, hot bread baking in the oven. Applause are fun, wonderful, really. But more important is that creating teaches me, opens me, connects me with the Divine. Amen.
Another very good point about what writing does for all of us. The praise is great. I have to admit that its pull on me is a desirable pull. Still, though, if you are writing and writing honestly, it opens up places in the soul that only writers know.
Great comment and please keep coming back.
🙂 am back again 🙂
what you say ‘if you are writing and writing honestly, it opens up places in the soul that only writers know.’ is so true…
This poem i wrote not coz i really wanted feedback…it’s just what i was feeling…. my emotions tend to make me see things to the nth power.. but yes i posted it for feedback… but ultimately….it was honest. drop by
http://wanjikumwaurah.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/mapped/
What an awesome post. I envy your eloquence. 🙂 I seldom talk about my thought process about writing for some reason. Like you, I also write fiction… but unlike you, I have not found the courage to share my work to others. Well, I had, one time. I let my sister read the first 12 chapters of something I was working on. She returned the manuscript to me, and demanded the next half. I’ll never forget how she said it.–that I made her fall in love.
Well, that was a long time ago. Many things have happened and I haven’t written anything longer than a few chapters for the last year.
So…. thanks for reminding me what a wonderful feeling it is to have someone smile/frown/sigh/gush because of something I wrote. I’ll try to remember this every time I would talk myself out of writing AND sharing my original work. 🙂
(Sorry for the overlong comment.)
Thanks for the kind comments. I am glad you liked it.
Right you are! Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Thanks. Come back again, please.
Tim
Aw, this is really neat. I like that you think that way! You must get so much pleasure from writing.
It is really the only reason anyone ever writes. When someone likes it, then it becomes the most amazing bonus. I thank you so much for looking in again.
Tim
Hi Tim
Thanks for this really interesting post 😀
I guess I write for three reasons…1) because I feel an inate desire to do so, it’s been there with me since I was old enough to hold a pen…and it won’t go away 2) to stir other people’s emotions and 3) as a way to convey my own emotions and try to make some sense of them – and in doing so, try to make some sense in the world around me.
I look forward to reading your other posts 😀 Hope you have a fun weekend.
Chloe xx
Marriage can be a thrill ride and a half, right?
Tim,
Here I am at the beginning of your blog…
you left a comment that intrigued me…
the way you think….
a thought I wish I’d thought of first.
(live it up, it’s a year we weren’t expecting
according to the Mayans…paraphrased)
.
I’ll be thinking for a while about this post
and what you wrote…
I am an elderly lady, that was brought up
not to show emotions…
and that’s not the way to be.
.
I write because it’s in me and has to come out
Never did I expect other people to read what
I wrote, but I kept misplacing my journals
and decided a blog was a good place to store
the memories.
.
Now I find that it is nice to smile, or laugh out loud
(that’s a new thing…laugh and it’s only the cat
and me).
Thanks for giving me something to think about…
my evolution as a writer and how I’ve changed.
.
Peace,
Siggi in DownEast Maine, USA
Thanks for coming by and taking the time to view my blog. I hope you continue to evolve as a writer.
Tim