I saw this quote earlier today:
“The purpose of the writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” BERNARD MALAMUD
And it got me thinking…do you believe that, as a writer, this is your purpose?
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A writer & her adolescent muse 
Simply put.. yes.
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It’s almost overwhelming-at least that’s how I felt when I read this.
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I guess yes, that is a writer’s purpose. Words shape so much of our human existence. What we write can drive someone to tears, make them fall out laughing, or start a revolution. It’s a heavy calling.
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Words are like swords…they can cut to the core, or raise armies. Scary stuff.
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Arts in general have the rare ability to remind us we are something more than drones stuck in a loop, so in that sense, absolutely.
My own experience is closer to this quote from The West Wing:
“An artist’s job is to captivate you for however long we’ve asked for your attention. If we stumble into truth, we got lucky.”
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I like that quote 🙂 By this, it sounds like all artists should have some kind of an audience to use their work to impress, influence, etc…so, in essence, we should not create solely for ourselves, but for others. Or, both!
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It’s an act of communication, isn’t it? We’re telling our stories because we have something we need to say. In that sense, we’re doing it for ourselves, but the need is not just to say, it’s to be heard. We’re never fully satisfied until somebody reads what we wrote and responds to it.
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