So Why Do We Write

 

This is not meant to be a treatise on the history of the written word.  That's certainly a mighty big task to put into a blog post. Besides there are libraries full of books, written by much more learned people than me, which delve in the written symbols and words of humankind. So please do not take me to task on my facts as they are actually only mildly relevant to this post.

But a mini lesson could be helpful, here it goes. 

We have records of picture images going back to the Paleolithic era. For the sake of simplicity I am going to lump drawing and written symbols together here.

If you have a chance to pop over to France and visit the caves in Lascaux you will find remarkable drawings over 20 000 old. You quickly realize these were draw to chronicle hunts, weapons and other daily affairs of the time.

The earliest known writing system was Cuneiform, which by comparison is a modern marvel, dating back between 3 500 and 5 000 BC.  This mostly represented agricultural output, contracts, religion and later, finances, law and government. 

So let's go back to the original question. Why do we write?

Well apparently, it's to convey meaning, communicate.

Whether it be a message such as "milk, bread, wine"...or something a bit more significant: "Dear John, I have run off with the cable guy. Dinner's in the oven?", there is a message we are trying to get across.

As this communication game has progressed, we have moved beyond simple messages. We use it to tell stories, chronical history, explain procedures, write up unintelligible Credit Card and Phone Contracts. Writing is used to express our feelings, foster emotions, promote fear. It's used to tell the neophyte how to make mashed potatoes.

It's found on diplomas, legislation, religious texts, medical diagnosis, traffic signs.

From the most basic STOP sign, to law books which line the walls in the Supreme Court, language is all around us.

But for all the different forms and versions of writing, there is but one motive, and that's to convey meaning.

Everyone is a writer of some sort.

But some of us give ourselves the title, Writer.

If you are a Writer with a capital W, you have another purpose, and that's to make your writing something that benefits others. Something the readers will use for practical purposes, or instead will carry them away from the practical into the world of wonder and fantasy.

If you are one of those, your task is move writing into creation.