Writing Addiction: What Makes Writers Write

What compels a person to sit down and type the thoughts, content, instructions and verses flowing through their minds? Why is writing in the form of blogging, emailing, messaging, texting and posting so vital to us today? This article examines why writers write.

Recently, as an online writer, it occurred to me that I was spending more time writing and thinking about writing than I had about my daily activity of full-time teaching and full-time mother of 4 children. Why had writing consumed so much of my time and energy lately?

The number of people who are messaging, texting, emailing, blogging, twittering as a social networking phenomenon has increased over the past year. In August of 2008, comScore Inc. released a study of worldwide usage of social networking sites. America was at the time leveling off at 9% growth whereas the rest of the world had a growth of 25%. Facebook took over as the leading social networking site, showing 153 percent growth.

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Social networking increased the amount of messaging. The process of messaging increased the amount of writing performed simply by engaging people in the process of exchanging notes, greetings, and posts.

This and other communicating leads people to blog about daily activities in their lives. By keeping a journal or blog people further engage in the writing process. People finding it rewarding to write daily blogs are excited when others respond and read what is written. The interaction is exciting to the writer.

Then when people find they can get income for the articles, stories, blogs they write, it becomes an even more motivating to be able to write. A writer at Associated Content, Suzanne Alicie, expressed her reason for writing as follows:” I started out here for the thrill of being paid to write, now I am a pageview junkie. I read piles of articles from my favorite writers every day, I submit a few articles, and enjoy the forum.”

It can be very exciting to see your thoughts, your original content, in published form. It is a thrill. People might actually read what you have to say. To see how many new readers read an article each day is very immediate and satisfying.

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At Triond, Stephanie Moore says, “Personally, I write because I have always told stories- my own and those of other people. Also, the written word is an effective tool for eliciting an emotional response from others: my goal is to make someone cheer, laugh, cry, or become angry about a problem in society. Most of all, I write to be read because I love reading.”

Another writer at Triond, S J Dickens, expresses it this way, “I write in order to express my ideas and to share them to other people who might be able to get some knowledge from them. In writing I am able to put out everything that yearns to be expressed in me, in the same way that a singer sings, a painter paints, a sculptor sculpts and so on.”

These people expressed why they write in the first place. The reason for writing and the reward for writing make a writer write. The ability to produce content comes easier to some than others. The reward can be higher for different writers also. Marketing and promoting content will help people to read it, thus more will be paid to the writer. The thrill of financial reward is very motivational.

On writers forums usually the question arises as to why everyone writes. The answers vary but recently, I feel I am thinking a lot about writing because there is a thrill to being published. Emails in your inbox with the subject, “you are published” are exciting. It makes one view the world in a different way when you find yourself experiencing something and think, “I am going to write about that”. The rewards are many, it’s quite gratifying and it’s addicting.