200 Things I Love About Writing
A few days ago, I decided to do a simple journaling exercise. I wanted to make a quick list of 20 things I love about writing. However, when typing the number 20, I accidentally typed 200 instead. As I hit the backspace key to correct the error, I paused and said, “What the hell… I can do 200.”
Initially the ideas flowed as quickly as I could type them. Most of them were ego-based surface thoughts along the lines of success, achievement, recognition, and so on. Once I got those out of the way, I slowed down considerably for the second half of the list and felt like I was connecting more deeply. Some of those items gave me a strong emotional hit. By the time I reached the end of the list, I felt a much deeper sense of gratitude for the opportunity to write. I also had a clearer sense of which reasons were truly meaningful to me and which were socially conditioned responses.
I wasn’t originally planning to share this list, but I thought some people might find it interesting, especially other writers or bloggers. So I’m sharing the full list in its entirely with no editing, as pasted from The Journal. This was all stream of consciousness, so expect to see some redundancy.
Here it is:
- humor
- being witty
- getting positive feedback
- getting links
- seeing people comment on my work on other sites
- spawning interesting discussions
- helping people grow
- sharing myself
- baring my soul
- being honest
- coming up with great new insights
- being creative
- expressing myself
- connecting with my higher self
- connecting with other people
- making friends
- building a reputation
- earning income
- being successful
- being good at writing
- being a popular writer
- having lots of readers
- seeing people extend and refine my ideas
- seeing people make my ideas their own
- seeing people apply my ideas
- seeing people get positive results with my ideas
- seeing people follow my advice and have it work for them
- seeing people have a-ha moments
- raising people’s awareness
- creating a large body of work
- doing good quality work
- being in the zone
- experiencing flow
- experiencing timelessness
- being enthusiastic about the flow of ideas
- reading an article I wrote and knowing it’s good
- anticipating a positive reception for something I wrote
- being able to write anywhere
- using my laptop and writing in public places
- being inspired
- incubating ideas
- writing a cool series
- building web traffic
- seeing people debate my ideas
- stimulating people
- waking people up
- disturbing people
- writing a piece I’m proud of
- coming up with truly elegant wording
- writing poetry
- coming up with new ideas that work for me
- inspiring myself
- tapping into a source beyond my ego
- experiencing oneness
- tuning in
- being free
- being free to write about whatever I want
- owning my own outlet to write
- getting thank you cards and letters in the mail
- hearing people’s stories
- seeing the word writer next to my name
- opening up with people
- letting people get to know me
- transforming painful lessons into inspiring stories
- turning my life into a lesson
- living by example
- being responsible
- doing what’s right
- feeling fulfilled
- knowing the flow of ideas is endless
- being satisfied
- feeling connected to other writers
- being an authority
- writing for myself
- writing for people I know
- expressing myself through written language
- having a global reach
- connecting with people I’ve never met
- changing lives of people I’ve never met
- making a positive difference
- changing people for the better
- changing myself for the better
- feeling connected
- turning off my ego
- turning my back on fear
- expressing courage
- writing daily
- enjoying the flow of fingers on the keyboard
- hearing the clanking of the keys
- typing fast
- brainstorming
- finding the third alternative
- doing something unique
- writing something new
- writing something that never existed before
- adding to the substance of the universe
- creating information out of thought
- manifesting pure thought in physical form
- putting nonlinear concepts into a linear structure
- storytelling
- coming up with good analogies
- simplifying complicated ideas
- being understood
- being loved
- being loving
- allowing people to know me
- bypassing people’s surface selves
- connecting with people’s true selves
- communicating soul to soul
- sharing energy
- expressing divinity
- being wrong
- accepting all outcomes
- being detached from outcomes
- letting people know I care about them
- reminding people they aren’t alone
- giving hope to people who’ve lost hope
- encouraging people who are discouraged
- learning from mistakes
- being kind
- being generous
- giving without expecting anything in return
- being human
- teaching people it’s OK to make mistakes
- teaching people not to be so afraid
- releasing my own fears
- hugging people through words
- showing people we are the same
- remembering that I’m not alone
- building a community
- seeing people support each other
- bringing light to darkness
- seeing someone smile
- deepening my connection
- growing
- changing
- changing my mind
- disagreeing with what I’ve written
- knowing I’m on the right path
- knowing this is what I’m meant to do
- knowing that writing is good
- seeing the good in other people
- helping people see the good in themselves
- preventing a suicide
- helping people embrace life
- helping people reconnect with what matters to them
- being a teacher
- being a student
- sharing discoveries
- making people laugh
- making people cry
- writing while crying
- writing something powerful
- writing something profound
- writing truth
- empowering people
- helping people raise their standards
- seeing people happier
- changing the world
- shedding the nonessential
- understanding essence
- knowing people by knowing myself
- egoless writing
- writing for the planet
- writing for the highest good of all
- heart-centered writing
- being discouraged and still being able to encourage someone else
- writing in the dark
- seeing a blank screen and knowing it will soon be full
- writing without fear
- writing as Source
- becoming one with the ideas
- becoming nothingness
- becoming pure awareness
- losing awareness of my fingers typing
- listening to music while writing
- smelling vanilla
- instant publishing
- watching birds outside my window
- writing about my family
- feeling good while writing
- writing peacefully
- writing all day
- losing track of time
- becoming my writing
- reading something I wrote and not remembering I wrote it
- writing for a timeless reader
- writing for people who aren’t born yet
- knowing my writing can outlive my body
- reincarnating in a future life to read what I wrote in this one
- loving to write
- being in a state of joy
- wanting to write even though I don’t have to
- writing even when I think I have nothing to say
- being surprised at what comes out of me
- being relaxed
- writing on paper
- writing with a candle burning
- writing for no reason at all
- writing by being instead of doing
Consider making a similar list for your own career… or for a new career you’d like to get into. I think you’ll find this a worthwhile exercise. The list above took me about 30 minutes to write.