Why?

I’m not a writer

By that, I don’t mean that I don’t write, but that I write without much thought for the craft of writing. I write without thought for artistry, and I rarely make a second pass over my hurried paragraphs.

I write to process

There are times where I think I think something, but I don’t know if I actually think it until I spend some time thinking about it. I’m sure some of you can relate.

I find writing to be a clarifying practice. Brain-dumping what is on the top of my mind into a daily note, and moving the best parts of those ramblings into notes of their own, changing the wording slightly, but not too much; that’s what writing is for me.

I write for myself

I have a deep appreciation for anything well-written, and like to think I have a reasonable ability to recognize literary and linguistic quality. As such, find it very difficult to share anything that I write. The things I write rarely, if ever, match my “standard for excellence” (a nice-sounding way of saying I have a bit of a problem with pride, which is a nice-sounding way of saying I’m proud). I don’t believe I’ve even shared my notes with my wife. She’s a writer. I’m not.

I am called to create

This isn’t an essay about a philosophy of creation, but I do think it is important to participate in creative acts, and to avoid getting sucked into the vortex of consumption. Without intentionality, it is easy for me to fall into the trap of viewing myself as one who is incapable of creation. I throw off the creative aspect of the Imago Dei without thought.

God created man in his own image and likeness, i.e. made him a creator too, calling him to free spontaneous activity and not to formal obedience to His power. Free creativeness is the creature’s answer to the great call of its creator. ― Dorothy L. Sayers, The Mind of the Maker

Building this website was a creative act for me. I love building digital tools, but had never delved into the world of the website building. So I began cobbling together the code for this site, without a blueprint, tying things together with programmatic zip-ties until they stopped wiggling.

After many hours, there it stood, unpolished and a little bit rickety, but it was mine.

I write to show my work

I really don’t like the thought of putting my words out here for anyone to see. It seems pretentious, as if I view my thoughts as something worthy of other’s attention.

That said, I think an important part of internalizing ideas is attempting to articulate them in my own words. Rather than storing up vast storehouses of disorganized paragraphs on daily pages, it’s my intention to turn some ideas from those paragraphs into more focused notes of their own, publishing them here. Not to grow an audience, but to give myself a motivation to actually do the writing.

Because even though I still don’t think of myself as a writer, I do see the value in writing.

Because I believe that engaging in creative acts is part of my calling as one created in the Image of God.

That’s why this site exists.