Why I Write: A Day in the Life of a Writer

It’s five o’clock somewhere, which means someone is likely having a drink a little too early. For writers, it’s a little bit of a different story. That means there’s someone having coffee at a Starbucks they’ve been sitting in for too long.

If you don’t believe me, visit a Starbucks at five p.m. and witness a writer’s nine to five gig. People often forget that writing is a job for most, not a hobby. With that comes its burdens like anything else in life. It isn’t as easy and laid back as people who aren’t writers make it out to be. There’s really no job description for any artist, but sometimes I think I could describe their jobs in a sentence.

A photographer’s job is to capture a precious moment in time. A musician’s job is to evoke feelings the same second a sound passes our eardrums reminding us of something in our lives, good or bad. A painter’s job is to capture emotion so detailed and fine, that it could be seen in the stroke of his or her brush. A writer’s job is to capture a lifetime.

This is the response I give when people ask for my job description. When people ask what inspires me to write, I give another simple answer even though it sounds cliché. I write to immortalize my feelings and inspire others who can relate to them.

There’s something powerful about the idea of a pen. It’s 2019 so I probably should be saying a keyboard. I’m only twenty-three years old, but most of my friends and family members refer to me as an old man because I’m known to be wise beyond my years.

Every writer puts a little bit of themselves in their characters. There’s always a personality trait or an experience included in a story that’s personal. When writers do this, they’re not only capturing their feelings and emotions, they’re capturing parts of their lives. When a writer completes their novel, short story, or poem, they’re immortalizing their experiences. Parts of their lifetime are captured in a work of art that’s permanent. To me, there's something so magical in that.

Writers who strive to publish their work for money only go so far. When a writer is driven by something as corrupting as money, they’ll lose sight of why they were writing in the first place. I promise you that I’m not a total hippie, but I am a dreamer and a romantic. I believe in the romance of writing. I have a love affair with words every time I write, but yet, even this is slowly getting taken away from me.

Technology is taking away the beautiful relationship between writers and their pens. There’s nothing like the love affair between the smooth ink rolling over a marble notebook. I’ve written two novels so far, one is self-published and the other is a manuscript sitting in my desk drawer. Every single note and idea that I wrote for my two novels were written on paper first. I had total control over it. The paper’s battery won’t die. My paper couldn’t get hacked and stolen by a person I couldn’t see. I had everything I needed right in front of me and I didn’t have Facebook to distract me either.

There was something so freeing about scribbling all over my notebook. It’s like I’m writing a new language only I could understand. If anyone found my notes it would look like nothing more than scrap work.

I may come across as a bitter old man, and sometimes I can be, but what famous artist wasn't a rebel of their time? I'm a rebel in a different way though. I'm an advocate for the way things used to be, forever wishing I lived in a time that was more simple.

Keep these wise words in mind from a writer who’s a little too drunk on caffeine at his local Starbucks.