Why Write...?

 

Why Write…

By John W. Vander Velden

 

It is a question I ask myself from time to time…why write? Fact is the answer I come up with is complex. To others it might not seem so. For they might imply that I write because I can. And that is true enough, but does not begin to explain the full spectrum of the reasons I sit hour after hour staring at the screen while my clumsy fingers abuse the keyboard.

To begin with, I am a story teller, and one of the ways I choose to tell my stories is through the written word. Of course, once I imagined that I might earn a few dollars with my stories. I have awakened from that dream years ago, and yet I continue. Since I haven’t earned anything, that is above my costs, I am told that my writing is no more than a hobby. I resent that idea, no matter how accurate it might seem. I work too hard at this craft to accept that my writing is just a hobby.

So why???

For one thing, I recognize I have been given a gift…the ability to create these stories you may or may not love. God provided me the talent. Often it feels as if God supplies the very words that filter through my fingers and at last end up on the page. If I feel that God has given me these things, shouldn’t I endeavor to use those gifts. I consider it my obligation.

Then there are the stories themselves. It might sound strange, but to me the stories are living, breathing things. They dwell within my skull awaiting the opportunity to escape. These stories have always been with me. Each individual tale comes to me from my imagination, and most evaporate with time, yet some are like demanding children that are not satisfied until they have been given their life upon the page.

But there are other reasons, and among them is the simple fact that my books are proof I exist. The stories are a bit of the legacy I will one day leave behind. The books are records of accomplishments. They may not pay cash, but they pay me by increasing my feeling of self-worth.

Completing four books is no accident…Each one is, in some ways, proof of victories won in hard fought battles.

But the war goes on, and perhaps that is the best explanation of why I write…

(405 Words) 11-26-2025