Who We Are

Haley Robinson

Why do you write?

I write because my brain is telling stories all day anyway. My mind sets the scene, narrates my day, and creates background stories for strangers. In quiet moments, it prophesizes my famous and vibrant future wherein I develop all of my personal hobbies to the point that I become a famous novelist/runner/cellist/stand-up comic… maybe I act too. Anyway, I write because the story is brimming out of my brain anyway. I may as well put it on paper.

When did you know you were a writer?

I don’t know if there was a time I didn’t consider myself a writer. I have a binder full of stories I wrote while I was growing up. When I was 7 or 8, I wrote my mom a book called Chocolate Face about the kinds of people who sometimes get chocolate on their faces. Then I looked up a publisher in the Yellowpages and wrote them a letter asking how to get my work published. To the surprise of my mother, I got a letter back. She told me not to write to strangers. 

Why do you continue to write?

I want to connect with people. Every day, a swarm of really weird thoughts fly around my brain and I have to assume I’m not the only one. When I read something that makes me stop and say, “holy shit…” I feel inspired. One day, I want to be the Holy Shit. I want people to find emotions they can’t articulate penned neatly in some unsuspecting, but wildly successful novel. 

Emily Fisk

Why do you write?

I write because I don't have a choice. 

Some far-off, never-never land version of me has all of her ducks in a row and her proverbial sh*t together. But the real me is a quirky, lovable character in an award-winning indie movie about my life. Wait, nope. 

The real me is a messy external processor, and writing is one of the ways I process. That processing starts conversations in my community and in my heart, and those conversations help me breathe. 

When did you know you were a writer?

When I sat in a college advisor's glass-walled office and he informed me that I would not have a BS in political science in the remaining two years of my education—but that I was pretty close to an English degree. A heavy, self-imposed requirement lifted off my shoulders then, and I gave up getting a "useful" degree to embrace my identity as a writer.

Why do you continue to write?

Because I'm still paying off the degree.

I continue writing because I still need it—it's as natural and as painful as living. I continue because my world needs connection and response, and because I need somewhere to neatly (or not so neatly) stack my thoughts in a pile. I continue because you're still here reading—aren't you?

Emery Ross

Why do you write?

*Compulsion
*To figure things out
*To connect
*Feels
*I’ve never been able to not write
*“I write entirely to find out what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see and what it means.” (Thanks, Joan Didion)

 
When did you know you were a writer?

In high school, I wrote stories during class for my friends. I wrote oodles of angsty bad poetry which I transferred to print via an awesome old typewriter. The clickity-clack of it would sing in my veins.

Then I stopped. I didn’t start again until college (which was several years later). Then, I couldn’t stop. I felt alive. Right before I graduated, I realized, not only do I write, but I am a writer. Now if I know nothing else, I know I am a writer. 

Why do you continue?

I don’t know, honestly. But I don’t care, either. I’ve moved beyond writing for the sake of it, or to please others. I write because I can’t not write, and while the genres and motives may change, I fall more in love with putting words together each time I do it. I don’t know what will become of my writing, and that’s okay. It’s enough that I just do it.

Lindsey Bowshier

Why do you write?

Mostly, I write because I think I’m quite fascinating. I also think that if you can write well, you should. Too many people think they can write (I can read: I can write; I can physical put pen to paper: I can write); there should be more examples of good writing. Dorothy Parker said, “I hate writing, I love having written.” I can absolutely relate to that.

When did you know you were a writer?

I think I was in second grade. It was a rainy day, and I felt inspired to write a poem about the stormy weather. I don’t think it was particularly amazing, but I do remember that I was pretty proud of myself for all the little devices I employed, such as :

Rain

            Rain

                        Rain

Falling down.

Brilliant right?

I think I wrote about 100 poems that weekend.

Why do you continue?

I definitely want to improve as a writer. I know that no matter what, it will only help me in my career, but mostly because I think that someday I will really write something that people will read. I mean, I’ve been published here and there, but never in anything that has been read by more than a few thousand people. And I’m probably being generous. I’d love to write a book that would maybe be read by a few thousand more.

Tasha Wise

Why do you write?
I write because it comes naturally. I think in written words and I write in thoughts. And language itself is beautiful. Stringing together letters in a way that can stir feelings in others is powerful. I write because it is easier than math or science. Because I can recall definitions and grammar rules faster than I can recall historical dates and events.

When did you know you were a writer?
I knew I was a writer in first grade. Or rather, my mom knew I was a writer then. I had written a story (I don’t know what it was about… probably family, because what else do you know about when you are 6 years old?) and I don’t remember specifics; I just know it didn’t totally suck.

Why do you continue to write?
I don’t want to write a book or even be published at all. I just want to work with words and be good at it. I want to be smarter than other people and correct their grammar and usage in a way that doesn’t make me totally douchy. But I also just need to get words out of my head sometimes, which I know is very teenage-angsty of me.