Writing to Understand

Confession: I’m a writer. So I write.

I don’t limit myself to one specific style or genre. I can’t. Even if I tried.

It’s just the way I’m wired: I write things in order to understand them. Placing words like bricks is a process for me to see the whole building. And I create many different buildings.

Whether that’s an essay, some poetry, or a novel, I write because I need to. Because there’s no way I could ever express what I’m thinking with my mouth.

Sure I might say I understand many things. I might sound like I know what I’m talking about after reading a bunch of books. I might even teach like it too.

But the truth is: I don’t really know it until I write it.

And even then, as Socrates has reminded us long ago;

“true knowledge exists in knowing that you know nothing.”

Thus why I can’t not write.

Yes, I get backlash for this. From myself, included.

I feel crummy when I don’t have time to write. (Especially during hockey season.) Physically and mentally, I get drained. I become all scatterbrained and my muscles/joints tighten up to the point where doing anything feels like a chore.