Why I Write

“Why I Write” by Joan Didion was not only powerful, it was honest. This essay had me hooked from the very first sentence and I was eager to gain insight into her perspective and learn about her purpose for writing this particular piece, however, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that even she did not have all of the answers. That is the beauty of writing. The author holds the power to write about whatever they want, but how often is the original purpose of a piece followed through? We live in a world that is full of judgment which will impact an author’s craft, both positively and negatively. Even learning to write, we are taught from a young age to have multiple drafts. This promotes revisions and allows plenty of room for the original purpose to be lost or tainted due to extenuating circumstances, whether that is a limited word count or an intended audience. What I took away from this essay is that everyone has a different reason for why they write and a different method in doing so. Writing is so powerful and it is important to make it your own or you can get lost in why you started writing in the first place. Even when writing this response, I found myself wary of how to start due to awareness of my audience. However, I decided to ignore my hesitations and write my honest response/opinion. I’m eager to read everyone else’s impression of this article!