how does your writing influence who you are as person?

 What does it mean to me to be a creative writer and how does my writing influence who I am as person?

It took me a long while to answer this question. It was agonizing. At first glance, the prompt seemed simple enough. As it turns out, it threw me into a state of mind whereupon I stayed up night after night trying to figure out who I am. Where do I belong. Where am I supposed to go from here?

Finally, one sunday evening, I had had enough of my early onset existential crisis. Maybe I was looking at this question all wrong. I kept trying to start at the beginning, ( which, Julie Andrews claimed was a very good place to start) but that didn’t seem to be working. So instead I decided to start at the end and make my way systematically to the top

How does my writing influence who I am as a person?

The truth is, It doesn’t. Who I am as a person influences my writing. It always has. I don’t know much about the world, and I won’t pretend to. I don’t even know much about writing to be honest, which is one of things that I claim to love. But what I do firmly believe is that people should always write about the things they know. All I know, is my self which invariably seeps in to everything I pen down. Which is why the frustration of not being able to answer this prompt flawlessly on my first try was so hard to stomach.There is a bit of my soul, as cliche as that sounds, in everything I write.

What does it mean to be a creative writer?

I can only say what it means to be a creative writer according to me;

It means to look where others do not look. It means to be plagued by the overwhelming desire to explore every nook and cranny, every facet of the human experience and to put it down on paper in a way only you can manage, because the human perspective is united and unique in its’s fundamental individuality.

And thus, we come to the very root of this question, what are the the strongest, most central aspects of my personality? I am, like many others, a collection of chaotic fragments. It seems to me, most of life is spent weaving those fragments into a tapestry. What results is not always guaranteed to be easy on the eyes but, it is very human. The very core of who I am is what nudges me to write. A deep seated desire to learn, to explore all that life has to offer and to offer my humble opinion. an innate need to understand humans and the exalted human experience. To explore all that is good and bad about it. To understand what makes us , us. What makes me, me. And what makes you, you.

It is that need that ties together all the fragments and make me who I am on a fundamental level as I oscillate between the roles I occupy with the kind of intensity that leaves one dizzy.

It is that need that colours all aspects of my identity, the hope I cradle in my heart, the love I long to give and receive

It is that need that makes me a writer.