Quiet Records


One year ago today I started writing daily the words that would become Morning Rounds with my Writing in Community, er, community.

Today I had a conversation about writing and why we do so. Why put work into putting thoughts into words and onto paper at all? I’ve been chewing on that, and love asking other creatives the same question. Why work hard in the margins to produce something that may or may not be enjoyed by others?

Maybe because it’s fun. As Liz Gilbert said in Big Magic, “At the end of the day I do what I do because I like doing it.”

Maybe because, as Seth Godin wrote in Linchpin, art wants to be shared (woah, this link goes back a ways).

My favourite motivation are Aracelis Girmay’s words, drawing inspiration from the snail’s trail, “Everywhere I go, every inch: quiet record.”

I like things that have seasons. Today, with the swelling winds of equinox tugging at the sails, maybe it’s time to pick up the pen, or open a new file, and begin again. I think there’s something more to say.