In this episode, I go through my “Top 10” reasons for starting to write. For me, these were — and are — motivators, whether you’re starting to write for the very first time, or are looking for a hook to get started today to continue your writing practice. And, just as writing itself is always an adventure, the reasons to start doing it are a bit of an adventure as well.

There are so many good reasons to start writing that they sometimes get in each other’s way in my mind. I’d spend time thinking about why to start writing instead of actually starting to write. So, I took my own advice and wrote them down — getting them out of my head and into a list I could dip into when needed rather than trying to sort them in my mind.

1. Because you can. To me this is always the great motivator. Only we — people — write. Only we express ourselves in words and create expressions of things in words. We write about what was, what is, what’s never been, what might be. And, we also discover things that would never be if we hadn’t started writing. There are things that only you can write, and that’ll never exist unless and until you start to write. And, if you can, shouldn’t you?
Think of all those memories, all that experience you have — bringing it back to life instead of leaving it lying there dormant — rediscover, recover, release it. Who knows the impact of having that in the world? It may be nothing; it may be something. However, by writing it you’re adding your truth — which is always a beautiful thing — to the world. It’s an act of love really, which is what always prevails. Writing is one of our special powers. So why not try it out, experiment with it, see where it takes you?

2. It’s good for you. This is probably joint number one for me and one of the main reasons I started the Writing Is Great! podcast. Just as a good walk or some kind of regular physical exercise impacts your physical health, writing regularly improves your mental health.
We’re living longer so the importance of staying healthy in mind as well as body is critical if we want to make the best of this gift of longer life. I wrote a kind of personal manifesto about this because it matters so much to me. It’s called Some Thoughts On Aging. I put it on the website in the “About” section at writingisgreat.com, if you’re interested. Exercising your mind regularly is as important as exercising your body, if we’re to live our lives to the fullest. And writing is such an easy way to do this. It’s simple to try it out. You just need something to write with and on. So why not give it a go for a few weeks and see what happens?

3. Transform your time. Something that came up around the dinner table last week was the reminder of the gift of time we’ve made so many efforts, and worked so hard to gain for ourselves. In the history we know about, we’ve come from having to spend every day looking for food, working the earth for food, working every waking hour to ensure basic survival, to a point where many of us have time to appreciate and enjoy what’s in the world outside of the necessities of survival. (I know we’ve a way to go before this is the common experience and I think enough of us have time to know what I’m talking about.)
If you’re not already writing, I suggest using some of that gift of time to start writing. Writing will transform not only the time you spend doing it but also the rest of your time. Writing changes how you think and feel about everything else as well.
When we were talking about how we spent the time we had made so many efforts over so long a time to get, I said one of the most valuable things this gift of time has given me is the opportunity to have a writing practice. One of the boys said “so writing is your hobby then”. My first reaction was that this was too light a description for what’s become such an integral part of my life. And then I remembered what hobbyists working in their garages have produced, like the Wright brothers, Hewlett and Packard, Jobs and Wozniak, for instance. This shows the value of us having time to spend on what intrigues and engages us. Writing is now core to the way I understand and distill my experience of life. Writing transforms whatever time I spend doing it. 

4. Develop your curiosity. Curiosity really is the spice of life. Wondering about the things of life and finding out about them keeps us lively. Think about what happens when you stop being curious — you’ve lost interest…you think you know the answers… you’ve nothing to learn… nowhere to go… you’re set in your ways. For me, my ability to be curious is a gauge as to how alive I feel in that moment. The ability to write about it, is magnificent, not to be wasted or passed by. Writing down my current understanding of something frees up my mind for some new understanding to come along, which in turn piques my curiosity, which in turn makes life more interesting. It’s a wheel of goodness.

5. Learn how to pay attention again. This works for me in a couple of ways at least. The first is connected with when I find myself writing about my memory of something. I try to add as many details as I can remember. At first, this wasn’t a lot and, often, I’d find myself wishing I could write a richer description. What happened then is that I started to pay much more attention to the details in my life now because I wanted them for my writing. This wasn’t really a conscious decision. It was something that was a happy byproduct of my writing practice. And in the process what I’ve found is that the more I pay attention and notice what’s in any particular event of my life, the better the experience I have.
Another way this works for me is in the practice of writing itself. It’s like becoming better at fishing. I’m paying attention to see whatever thought or emotion is moving or swirling around so that I can catch it to start writing about it. Or, to put it another way, I’m paying attention to what’s there in that moment — it’s a form of meditation as well.

6. Discover and rediscover your memories. There are plenty of events in my life that I know happened but that I don’t remember clearly anymore without the help of photos and videos. This is totally understandable when you start thinking about the number of birthdays, Christmases, holidays, anniversaries, first teeth, first swims, first bikes, first games, first days in this school or that school, and so on, that happen in the course of a life.
However, what I’ve found is that writing about my memories of any event, say a first day at school for one of the boys, brings back other memories I’d forgotten I had. My memories get clearer and fuller the more I write about them. And not just the details of the event itself. It brings back memories of my feelings, my thoughts, back then. And this can lead into a whole other dimension that I can find myself coming back to for days after.
Another kind of quirky thing that I find happening is that I remember myself more in my life now as well. What I mean by this is that there are moments when I pause, look at where I am, and remember this is me, in my life, now. It’s an odd but exhilarating experience.

7. Learn how to be still. You have to take time to write. You can’t rush it. In order to write you have to stop — stop moving, stop talking, stop doing other things. You have to be still to write. You can’t be busy with other things. You sit there quietly — thinking or feeling or imagining your way into what you’re going to write next. Then you write for a while. Then you’re back to sitting there. The description can be off-putting but the experience is something you’ll keep going back to as you learn the power and joy of stillness.

8. Explore your mind. We’re always thinking, whether we like it or not. We’re always producing ideas and opinions. We can’t help it. It’s like breathing. Sometimes, we’re trying to further our knowledge and understanding. Sometimes, we’re trying to sidestep or avoid our thoughts. Sometimes, we’re simply daydreaming. Why not take advantage of what’s going on anyway? Writing captures and extends our ability to think. Just as putting one foot in front of the other will always get you to another place, so writing down one thought after another will always take you to somewhere else in your thinking. There’s always more to explore and discover. As far as I know, no one with a good mind has ever reached the end of their thinking.

9. (Re-)Learn how to look at things. For me this is one of the most enjoyable things that happens with writing. For no particular reason I might find myself writing about a random concept — like how people respond to catastrophes or the unavoidable fact of aging. (When you write every day and follow your fancy you’ll find yourself writing about all sorts of weird and wonderful things).
Usually what I find is that I start with conventional thinking, received wisdom, someone else’s imagination. For example, that people panic and mobs go crazy in catastrophes, or that growing up is an inevitable decline and growing old is something negative. Writing helps me to look more closely, or simply to look at things I took for granted. I always, and I really do mean always, end up with healthier and happier attitudes. Like seeing that — in all real catastrophes — people actually come together and help each other. Or seeing that aging is a natural part of life that most people celebrate and enjoy. Writing leads me to think more deeply, to make more thoughtful choices, to not to make choices I don’t have to, to look again.

10. See through illusions. This is a follow-on from #9. There’s so much stimulus in the world now, that it’s hard to think at all, never mind to think straight about your own thoughts. Opinion shapers and persuaders of all types spend a lot of time and effort figuring out how to get through to our thinking. There’s a non-stop barrage of advertising and commentary on radio and TV - targeted, personalized adverts from the internet, influencers on social media, billboards while you’re driving. Even the set-up of my TV screen — with more than one talking head in the center and things (like those ticker-tape thingies) happening below and sometimes above and beside them — is a set-up, designed to keep my mind unsettled enough so there’s an opening for the things happening on the TV to find a way through.
And it works, on me at least. I often find myself humming the tune of some ad I’ve heard. Or, when I start exploring some opinion I have by writing about it, I’m often surprised by how much I’ve taken on from the talking heads and advertisers. Or, I’m regularly startled to discover how often I’ve passively accepted and reproduce the TV or film representation of how life is or happens. I’ve found many, many of these straw men and illusions lodged in my thinking. Writing has helped me, and keeps helping me, to see through them and formulate my own thoughts about the things of my life.

11. A bonus reason I’d like to add is gratitude. Every time I sit down to write I have a moment of gratitude, or try to, that I have the time, the opportunity, the means, and the ability to discover and write something wholly new and original into the world. 

So that’s this week’s show.
Thanks so much for listening.
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Again, thanks for listening, and until next week, take care and get going with your writing!