Oh, for the love of writing

Oh, For the Love of Writing
By: Sarah Kershaw

“I hate writing.” If you’re like most students, you’ve probably uttered this statement a thousand times. You probably hate to read, hate to write, and don’t see the point of it. Well, the truth is that you don’t understand the beauty of writing. You’ve only written because you have to, not because you need to.
What I mean is that you have probably only written because it was assigned to you. Sholem Asch said, “Writing comes more easily if you have something to say.” This is a simple statement that holds more weight than you may know. Most people hate writing because they do not like their topic. But if you have something to say, something that you have to say because it’s bottled inside of you just begging to explode out, well – you’ll understand what writing truly means.
Jules Renard said that “writing is a way of talking without being interrupted.” Writing is freeing; it’s the most liberating feeling in the world. When you learn to write because it is inside of you, you can love to write as well. Your words are your words – no one else’s. Writing is a way of getting everything out of your head and onto paper. Whenever you try to gather your thoughts by talking with another person, their input becomes a part of your thoughts. Writing is different. It’s your words, your thoughts, untouched by amyone else.
Writing is a way of remembering. Although it can be argued that a picture is worth a thousand words, I disagree. Pictures can be posed. It is much harder to fake your writing. Each word you write is a reflection of how you feel and more importantly, how you think. William Thackeray said, “There are thousands of thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen and writes.”
To say you hate writing is like saying you hate talking. Words are words. Maybe you hate the assignment you’ve been given, like you may hate the way some people speak. But you cannot rule out an entire form of expression just because you’ve had a bad experience with it. So go ahead, and anchor down those thoughts floating around in your mind. You may be surprised with the results.