I pull out my handy-dandy Nancy Drew notepad that goes everywhere with
me and flip to some notes from my Chicago trip. I pass through the name
of the porta potty company in South Shore Station that would make for a
good title of a new mom book (Oui Oui Enterprises), through notes on
the man snoring beside me in the Metra station and the butterfly that
got trapped in the bench area with me, through a dazzling first line
and brilliant character sketch, and I get to this: why I write.
Sometimes when the words don’t come and the rejections do, I remind
myself.
I write because when I meet Mr. Windsor, the retired
professor from Czech Republic with the wandering eye, Einsteinian hair,
and reading glasses, which sometimes hang from his mouth and sometimes
dangle on his chest from a rope, people need to know that he hops up in
a moment’s notice to help a kid with math problems or play Sorry or
take you for a ride in his blue classic Mustang convertible. I write to
introduce you to Marnie when she shows up on my doorstep with luggage
held together with duct tape and three kids, one of whom makes no
decision apart from Magic Eight Ball. I write because Itzel needs us to
be there when she encounters her abusive father and faces the Mayan
prejudices and sets out to save the world, or at least San Tomás.
I write because I read.
I write because I love the wooden smell of paper and the click-clack sound of keys.
I write because I want to learn.
I write because I want to communicate.
I write because I want someone to understand (although I don’t want anyone to see through me).
I
write because although I love my life here on the Island of Misfit
Toys, I know there is a Charlie-in-a-Box and a crying doll and a polka
dot elephant who want to feel the love of a child with wrapped-around
arms.
I write because I dance.
I write because I love.
I write because I sing and love music and rhythm.
I write to belong.
So tell me, why do you write?
(Note: I realize that the title has nothing to do with the post, but I saw Hairspray
this week – although I missed the sing along showing unfortunately -
and the songs are running through my head. In fact, I’ve never been to
Baltimore.)
