why i write

a reminder for myself...lol

i’ve written 12 words in the past week.

i feel bad about that.

but why do i write?

there’s no way i’m writing so my google doc gets fed and its not hungry. and there’s no way i’m writing for myself…

but i kinda am.

i mean there’s a six year old girl swinging in the spring air, who is singing random words into the breeze. that little girl loves books, she eats them up like a hungry animal. she loves stories and she loves characters and she loves the tales that people have created. sometimes i write for that little girl, for her storytelling dream.

but other days i write for my future self. she has her whole life planned out, she has the exact date of publication for her first novel. but writing for future scarlett is hard. she has deadlines and chaos, and things she needs to do other than sit and write. she puts pressure on current scarlett to get her act together.

and speaking of now scarlett, do i ever write for her? i say no. i find myself never writing the stories she needs the most. i never write the stories of hope and love, and the things she needs to know still exist. i never write for her.

so then why do i write? if its not for myself why do i sit in front of a computer screen for hours trying to craft a story.

i write because someone out in the world needs my story. someone out there needs to know that they are seen and loved and chosen. someone out there needs a royal family drama about some crazy teenage girls and their issues. someone out there needs a YA fantasy set in Scotland involving crazy people that take care of dreams. someone out there needs a mystery story written by a magpie. and someone else needs a time travel romance in regency England.

someone out there needs your writing, scarlett. and they cant ever read it if you don’t write it.

so i think that’s why i write. i think i write because someone needs my writing, or maybe its because the stories i write need to be found. i am a discovery writer after all. so maybe that’s what makes my wheels turn what makes be pick up my pen and continue.

maybe i have stories stuck in my head, maybe God gave me some awesome charries that need to make it out in the world. maybe its because my fingers need to move and get exercise. i really don’t know.

so for what reason i write, for whatever thing that keeps the words coming out on the page, i thank you. i thank you for getting my brain off the couch and getting me to work through stories and annoying charries because someday i will walk into barnes and noble and find my book on a display case with its gorgeous cover sticking out so all can see. and that’s when i’ll know why i write, but until that day comes i write to get there. i’ll write for every step along the way. i write for past present and future scarlett. for my friends that need to know that they're not alone. for everyone who hears about my writing. and for God who gave me a talent and now i must use it to glorify him.

until the ink spills

—scarlett parker