
WHY I WRITE
By James Grob
I write because I have something important to say, and the act of writing is the only way for me to find out just what that something is.
I write because once a young woman cried alone at an airport after she had hugged a soldier goodbye, and I was the only person who seemed to notice.
I write to secure my memories. My grandfather was a brilliant, loving, gentle giant of a man who had all of his memories slowly stolen from him until he died alone without them.
I write because when oil is spilled into a puddle, it looks like a rainbow melted.
I write because I'm not sure if God exists, but I know for a fact that there are angels everywhere.
I write because words mean things.
I write because Mylissa isn't a real person, I created her, but I worry about her every night as if she were my own daughter.
I write because I can make people laugh out loud, and nothing makes me feel better than when I make someone laugh out loud.
I write because you're still reading.
I write because people help other people every day and we never hear about it, but we need to.
I write because some day I'd like to be well-known, but not well-recognized.
I write because the important thing is the obvious thing that no one is talking about.
I write because no one is lonely until some one is gone.
I write because people can fall easily in love with my words and that makes me feel like they've fallen in love with me. And who doesn't want to feel loved?
I write because there are hundreds of emotions that don't have names.
I write because once someone who is smarter than me told me that I was good at it.
I write because there are people who will pay me to do it, even when I don't do it well.
I write because writing has gotten me laid more often than you'd ever believe.
I write because sometimes when we're talking, I can't say what I want to say.
I write because once I held a big black dog in my arms and cried as he quietly died.
I write because no one else has ever written exactly what I want to read. So it's all up to me.
I write because once you put a thought on paper and let someone else read it, you can never, ever take it back.
I write because once a woman winked at me and I'm still trying to understand why she did that.
I write because on paper I'm often eloquent. In real life, I'm often not.
I write because there are days when my soul screams silently.
I write because maybe someday something I write will inspire someone to do something good for someone else.
I write because waitresses call me "Hun" and truck drivers call me "Buddy" and little things like that cause me to laugh and wonder.
I write because sometimes we all do things we wish we wouldn't have.
I write because I'm desperate for praise.
I write so my parents can tell their friends that they have a son who is a writer.
I write because sometimes it's so much fun.
I write because words in parenthesis can sometimes make me feel aroused (they really can.)
I write because English is a living language, which means that I can turn phrases that Shakespeare and Dickens couldn't.
I write because fictional characters who deserve to live never have to die.
I write because I don't agree that the ocean is beautiful.
I write because a hug is wonderful one day, awkward the next.
I write because I am a father of daughters, and that's not as easy as it sounds.
I write because when I write really well, my wife is proud of me.
I write because I know there are still new and unique ways to describe a kiss, even though it's been done 10 billion times.
I write because I want people to be entertained for a little while.
I write because we're all here on this Earth to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.
I write because I realized that I would never play center field for the Yankees and I would never be the lead singer for a heavy metal band.
I write because it's the only time I'm really in charge of things.
I write because almost always I want to be sitting quietly with someone I care about on a dock at a lake in Minnesota under a yellow moon on a warm summer night when the loons are laughing, but almost always that's not where I am.
I write because some of the things I write make me happy, some of them make me sad and some of them make me think. And maybe they can do the same for you.