Writing- Why we do it, what it's comfort is, and where it hides.

There are many reasons why we write-- professional reasons, for which writing is required, academic reasons, for which writing is a necessary step in research and development, and social reasons, for which writing is used to communicate with others. People also write for more personal reasons-- it is a creative and sometimes very theraputic way of expressing oneself ...among the other aformentioned reasons for writing, I also chose to write for the last reason. It helps me to clear my mind and organize my thoughts. It helps me to identify issues with which ive been struggling internally. To me, that is the "comfort in writing." I also love language in general and am a word freak; I like to find new ways to say things and exercise that part of my brain.
I think that writing can literally "hide" anywhere; we often tend to think that a person needs to have experienced something extreme in order to have something good to write about-- something extremely tragic, extremely ecstatic, extremely strange, extremely romantic. In class we read poems and stories that deal with heavy personal or social issues that are intimidating subjects for students to tackle in their own writing. While they should practice writing about these extremes, I also think that students should practice "finding" where else writing "hides"-- in common things, in everyday experiences, in simple pleasures and tiny grievances. Great poetry especially does not have to be so tragic as most students are lead to think it is. I would probably give my students Neruda's "Odes to Common Things" to show them examples of where in the world around them writing "hides."
I think that a person's life is a great reservoir of experience that can potentially contribute to writing. I know that I always use my own experiences to derive the meaning of poems or stories that I write. However, I don't think a person's general life experience necessarily dictates their writing ability, but the presense of certain things in ones life probably does. If there is a history of reading, good instruction, and more time for practicing writing in ones life, they will probably be a better writer than someone who didn't have those things. People who have speech or learning disabilities may have a harder time with some aspects of writing than people without those differences. Some people just seem to be natural writers, while others have to work at it a little harder. However, I think that if our students are all taught in classrooms that really focus on their longterm and self-directed success with writing, everyone can be a better writer than they were before.

For poems by Pablo Neruda, Check Out: http://www.poemhunter.com/pablo-neruda/