Why do you write?

Writing as an act of care for your self.

Jun 13, 2025

This morning, I hosted my monthly My Book Writing Adventure support group. We are all driven to write but find difficulties with the act of bringing our work into being. This can happen for so many reasons.

And this week I’ve been thinking about a more gentle approach. What if working on my book project is an act of care for myself?

Sometimes, it’s as if the book is another thing that needs my attention in a life when I have many people and things that I willingly give my attention to. I like to help and encourage other people. I like to stay on top of other jobs to feel in control.

But what if my book gives something back to me?

Writing can be transformational and fun as well. A nurturing escape from daily life. I want to work on feeling this instead of seeing it as a burden.

One idea I was reminded of this week was the idea of a zero draft. I love freewriting, but thought that I had done enough of that and the purpose of this book was to shape the writing. But actually I need to freewrite the particular shape of this book! A zero draft or Draft Zero, as I’m calling it, is something you write before a first draft. You write to think. You write to know what the book is about.

So these are the two things I’m going to try: writing a Draft Zero and seeing working on my book as an act of self-care, because my book has so much to give me in return for the attention I give it.

I am reminded of these passages by Margaret Atwood and Nathalie Goldberg on why they write:

To record the world as it is. To set down the past before it is all forgotten. To excavate the past because it has been forgotten. To satisfy my desire for revenge. Because I knew I had to keep writing or else I would die. Because to write is to take risks, and it is only by taking risks that we know we are alive. To produce order out of chaos. To delight and instruct (not often found after the early twentieth century, or not in that form). To please myself. To express myself. To express myself beautifully. To create a perfect work of art. To reward the virtuous and punish the guilty; or – the Marquis de Sade defense, used by ironists – vice versa. To hold a mirror up to Nature. To hold a mirror up to the reader. To paint a portrait of society and its ills. To express the unexpressed life of the masses. To name the hitherto unnamed. To defend the human spirit, and human integrity and honor. To thumb my nose at Death. To make money so my children could have shoes. To make money so I could sneer at those who formerly sneered at me. To show the bastards. Because to create is human. Because to create is Godlike…
From Margaret Atwood – Negotiating with the Dead (pxx)

Ask yourself, “Why do I write?” or “Why do I want to write?”, but don’t think about it. Take pen and paper and answer it with clear, assertive statements. Every statement doesn’t have to be one hundred percent true and each line can contradict the others. Even lie if you need to, to get going. If you don’t know why you write, answer it as though you do know why.
Why do I write? I write because I kept my mouth shut all my life and the secret ego truth is I want to live eternally and I want my people to live forever. I hurt at our impermanence, at the passing of time. At the edge of all my joy is the creeping agony that this will pass—this Croissant Express at the corner of Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, a great midwestern city in mythical America, will someday stop serving me hot chocolate. I will move on to Mexico where no one knows how it feels to be here with the sudden light of afternoon, the silver of the ceiling, the half-smell of croissants baking in the oven.
I write because I am alone and move through the world alone. No one will know what has passed through me, and even more amazing, I don’t know. Now that it’s spring I can’t remember what it felt like to be in forty below. Even with the heat on, you could feel mortality screaming through the thin walls of your house.
Natalie Goldberg – Writing Down the Bones (pp114-115)

And if you’re local - come and join me at the Forest Row Festival! I’ll be running a writing clinic tomorrow morning and Silent Book Club on Sunday morning.

Creative Writing Workshops

Sepia Summer: Two-Part Creative Writing Course

Long, slow, hot days. Deckchairs, ice cream, sandcastles, splashing in the waves. What do you remember about the summers of your past?
Maybe there’s a particular summer you always return to in your mind or maybe your summers have merged into a golden glow.

In this 2-part creative writing course, we take a nostalgic look at summer memories and explore how to turn them into a piece of writing.

In-person (Chequer Mead, East Grinstead)

Saturday 28 June - 10-12noon
& Saturday 12 July - 10-12noon

To book a place on the in-person workshops, click here.

Regular events with me (Mel Parks)

Online

Rewild: A weekly guided creative writing hour

Rewild your writing! Connect with the seasons, moon cycles, nature as well as ancient stories & wisdom. Experiment, explore, break free of writing conventions & celebrate your creativity.
Prompts offered, followed by quiet time to write, a check in half way through, then sharing at the end.
Series of 11 weekly hour-long sessions.

For paid subscribers:

Tuesdays 2-3pm (UK time)

Ends 15 July (just this season - we will restart in September). Doesn’t matter that you’ve missed the beginning sessions. Join us at any time.

Online

My Book Writing Adventure - Support Group on Zoom

My Book Writing Adventure is a gentle, experimental, pick ‘n’ mix, self-directed book coaching programme for people with full enough lives who are driven to write a book despite everything.

For paid subscribers:

All UK time and planned to coincide with the full moon
2025

Friday 13 June | 9.30am - 10.30am

If you are local to Forest Row, I’ll be offering one-to-one sessions to have a chat about any writing dilemmas as part of Forest Row Festival on 14 June. I’ll be in the Spring Room at the Community Centre from 10am to 12noon. Come and say ‘hi’ or better still, book a 20 min slot with me. Included in price of festival wristband or for a donation to the festival.