There is a discussion thread over at She Writes, an online writer’s community of which I am a member (and more recently am the Volunteer Coordinator for), that asks “Why I Write”.  It’s a brief prompt.  In six words, tell why you write.

I’ve never questioned why I choose to write.  I’ve loved it for as long as I’ve been able to put words on paper.

I was reading a post by a fellow writer/blogger about whether or not we HAVE to write.  Not every writer has to.  And while I wouldn’t die without writing, I can’t really picture NOT writing in one form or another.

But that made me think of another question.  Why do I blog?

I mean, I love to write, that’s been established.  But why not channel the time and energies put towards this blog into my current writing project?

Without thinking too hard, I’ve come up with a few reasons:

1) Instant gratification.  

When I blog, I sit down, bang out a thought or two, and hit publish.  Sure, it may not be making its way to millions of people, but it is being read.  And people respond in a positive way.  I’d be a big fat liar if I said that didn’t feel good.

It should be noted that I have a need to please people.  I hate it, but it is what it is.  Writing something, then having people interact because it made them laugh or think does make me happy.  Curse my insecurity and neediness.

2) Lexical Budgets

Say what now?  There are varying studies about the number of spoken words men and women use in a given day.  Being that I am currently jobless and without a car, my daily conversation consists of singing the ABC Song, “no”, “want cheerios”, and variations of tunes involving the words “poo” and “pee”.  I don’t think I am coming close to using up my daily lexical budget.

And that hurts my brain.  (Or so I have concluded.  Fetch me my Ph.D and publish that business.)  While typing out a blog post doesn’t completely fulfull the need to speak so many words a day, it helps.

3) Make Room for Me!

My brain is always going.  (You: “Duh.  So is everyone elses, Braggy McBraggerson.”)  What I mean is, I have a hard time quieting the many different things that go through my head.  It’s not conducive to writing a novel, paying attention to anything, or sleeping.

In order to be able to function properly, I need to be able to take everything I see and hear on a day to day basis, then process what I need and purge the rest.  Not unlike what your body does with food.  This is my brain’s digestive process.

Yes, I just made it sound like my blog is poo.*  Awesome.

I am sure there are other reasons, but those are my top three for the moment.

Speaking of instant gratification and people pleasing, Erika of NAMAmmaSTE was kind enough to bestow upon me the following award:

I love that she gave me “The Versatile Blogger”.  I sometimes think the guys in the shiny white blog tower are going to tell me that I need to choose a theme and stick with it.  Are you a mommy blogger?  A foodie blogger?  Define yourself into one nice neat category or else!

So, Erika, thank you for validating me and my posts about whatever happens to come to mind.

Since I just did a “Seven Things About Me” post the other week, I think what I shared today will suffice, right?

As far as bloggers go, go to Erika’s post and check her list.  Giving some blog love to mommy bloggers this time around.

Also, a blog that I lurk on, Pacing the Panic Room.  This guy is an amazing photographer with a beautiful family.  His post about the birth of their little girl, born a month before Jonas, was the hubs required reading before I gave birth.  Check out the maternity series he did of his wife.  Amazing.

*as I wrote this post, the kid was doing “the poopy dance”, ergo the poo reference

Currently Listening to: a long string of ABC videos on Youtube