1. I love the sensation of my hand gliding on the paper.

It’s the best of all sensations.

“I write by hand because that is how I began, and I love it. Moving the wrist, the marks the pencil or pen leaves on the paper — like the trail of a snail — well, it is like drawing, no, it is drawing, and I am so enamoured of this activity that sometimes I write continuously without actually forming real words, I call it ‘fake handwriting,’ and it’s just as much fun as actually ‘writing’. By fun I mean it’s just as much a mystery. The whole wrist-moving action is why I write in the first place. I don’t like tennis or knitting; I like writing with my hands.”

— Mary Ruefle

2. I love the clarity writing brings me.

I write to make sense of this world. To clear my thinking. To understand the world, the people, and their motives. Whenever in doubt, depressed, or facing a dilemma, I pick up a pen and pour it all out on paper. I have been journaling for two decades now. Without writing, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.

3. I love how writing has become my therapy.

Because the words are a comfort. When things are rough and I have nowhere to go, writing becomes my solace. Writing makes my problems go away. I write and write and write until I have nothing left inside me to poison my soul.

Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, panic, and fear which is inherent in a human situation. — Graham Greene

4. I love how writing has given me a voice.

I can express my joy, grief, hope, fun, love, beauty, opinions, and beliefs. I no longer feel being choked inside my throat.

Writing has such a power for exprssion. Even when you can’t talk with no one else in the whole world you can talk to your paper. Your feelings whether good, bad or indifferent. We call it despojo in Spanish, which means to be able to get rid of all this agony, weight inside of you. It brings clarity. — Piri Thomas

5. I love how writing has made me fearless.

I am no longer afraid of speaking my mind. I don’t hide my feelings anymore. Because of writing, I understand myself better and I understand this world better. Writing helps me dive into my feelings with courage.

“The role of a writer is not to say what we all can say but what we are unable to say.” — Anais Nin

6. I love how writing has helped me experience the joy of creation.

I can create people, places, and things. I can create a make-believe world, a place where I can forget my problems and relax. I can draw different meanings from different situations.

“You can make anything by writing.” — C. S. Lewis

7. I love how writing has become a tool to give back to the universe.

I have discovered that through my writing I can inspire others. When I am able to do that I somehow become bigger than myself. I no longer feel insignificant. I feel I have something important to say which can have an impact on someone’s life.

Writing has helped me make a place for myself in this world. People see me differently when they find out that I am the author of several books.

“One of the most fundamental of human fears is that our existence will go unnoticed.”― Ralph Keyes, The Courage to Write: How Writers Transcend Fear.

8. I love how writing has helped me meet fantastic people.

Some of the best people I have met in life are through writing. These people were hanging out in writing groups, writing courses, or online platforms. I would never have found them had I not been writing. Writing has given me a chance to connect with complete strangers, and have deep conversations with them. I now have friends all over the world.

9. I love the fact that writing never bores me.

The best time of my day is when I am writing. With writing, I am not worried if I have nothing else to do or nowhere to go. I can take it with me anywhere and everywhere. I can spend the rest of my life writing.

10. I love how writing has changed my overall outlook on life.

Writing could be all-consuming and isolated activity yet it has enriched my life tremendously. It has put into perspective the things I can and can’t control. It has taught me how to overcome my fears and stay true to myself.

We should write because writing brings clarity and passion to the act of living. Writing is sensual, experiential, and grounding. We should write because writing is good for the soul. We should write because writing yields us a body of work, a felt path through the world we live in. — Julia Cameron.

11. I love how writing has intensified the pleasure of traveling.

By writing about the places I visit, I have come to learn more about them than I otherwise would have. When are read my travel stories a few years later, I get to relive the experience once again.

12. I love seeing how writing has helped me grow.

When I first started writing, I didn’t know how to get my ideas across. Now, I’m much more confident when I write, and I can see my craft improving. There is nothing better than the feeling when someone reads and admires my writing.

13. I love the fact that my stories will be the only legacy I will leave behind.

Through my daily diary, I’m keeping an archive of my days. And that is what I want to leave behind for future generations.