My first blog post -- What is the nature of writing?

I've been thinking lately about the nature of writing. Stephen King says in his book, On Writing, "Writing is refined thinking." Is all that is to it? As a writing teacher whose students are often in their first or second terms of college, I ask them, "Why do we write?" In other words, what is writing for?

My students give me various reasons, basic reasons such as communication and sharing information. Some of them have never written before, some "used" to write and want to get back into it, and some make writing a regular activity. The latter give me reason for reflection. I teach writing and expect my students to write, but I really have to make an effort to do it myself.

Part of what got me thinking about the nature of writing is my latest reading of Jean Auel's The Shelters of Stone. In bringing to life the Cro-Magnon civilizations of the Zelandonii and other peoples, she describes their brains as being capable of far more abstraction and innovation than earlier human ancestors, and it is this capability that eventually led to the preservation of knowledge and lore and history via writing.

Moving later into history, I find it interesting that most of the samples we have of the oldest kind of writing, cuneiform, are records of business transactions. I wonder if the ancient Sumerians had their own version of Occupy Wall Street.

So I have to ask myself, why do I write? I certainly write to communicate, to inform, to share. I write lists and emails and notations. I often write to vent or to work out a problem. But I like what William Stafford wrote in his essay, "A Way of Writing": when we write, we are bringing something unique into the world that hasn't been there before. I think that's the biggest reason why I write—I want, nay, need—to bring something unique into the world, something that hasn't been there before. My NaNoWriMo friends are likely more diligent than I, but they share this desire, as do all people who enjoy the act of creation.

So maybe my Great American Novel is a few years in the future, and maybe the world doesn't need Yet Another Blog, but I'm going to try my hand at it. Maybe it will be unique, maybe it won't. But I hope you enjoy it. I certainly will.