Tuesday, December 02, 2025

 

ESSAY - WHY DO I WRITE?

 BYDONOVAN BALDWIN

Donovan Baldwin
Why do I write?

Why does anyone write?

They have, they believe, something to say.

Right?

Well, for a "non-writer", that may be sufficient, but, the word "writer" is a slippery devil. It, of course, can be used to define anyone who takes up pen (or keyboard) and... well... writes.

Something!

Anything!

I have written standard operating procedures which were published and distributed to several sections of a military facility... made the "law of the land", if you will. Still, that, to ME did NOT feel like "writing".

Now, when I write poems, or even small screeds such as this one, I am, to my mind, a writer. In this writing, I am turning loose what a lady named Subi Nanthivarman so delightfully refers to as her "Writing Genie", or, apparently, "WG" to friends and coworkers.

Wonderful concept, I think.

For me, it's that weird little thing in my brain (in my case a Leprechaun-like creature), that has things to say and insists on sharing them with its human host in this symbiotic relationship. I don't control it, nor it me, yet, when it asks for pen or keyboard, I must comply.

For me, THAT is when I, with the aid of my faithful side-kicker, become a writer.

Why do I write?

Because as an obedient servant to the creature within, I must obey its demands or suffer the consequences... something like an addict suffering withdrawal.

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Dis you like this essay by Fort Worth writer, Donovan Baldwin? Perhaps you might like some of his poems at Venus Has Been Born.

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