Why do you write so much, Josh?
93) Writing is an art form. Writers write because it’s their self-expression
My life as a writer actually goes back over 35 years!
I started to write short-stories when I was in 2nd grade in Ms. Giordano’s class. How, I wish I had samples from then, but I don’t. But, more importantly I just remember the thrill I got out of writing. It was like a runner’s high to me.
When the internet entered my home in 1994, I was 13 and there was such a novelty around it. You’d open your inbox and hear the AOL message that said “You’ve got mail!”
I remember those rudimentary chat groups, where I could talk to people from wherever, and it was as if I was traveling in outer-space, landing on Mars or something1.
I think it was the Sporting News website which had these incredible chat groups. It was new and organic, and it felt like such a small and intimate world. The internet actually felt wholesome at this time2.
I remember my sophomore year in high-school. I was sixteen writing to a close friend from my old AOL email account, about the heartbreak I felt over a girl. The writing allowed me to express my feelings in a way that too often stayed so bottled up in me.
When I was in the 11th grade, My English teacher Ms. Byrne, asked us to write in a journal for homework. After a week of us doing it, she would check it to see how we were journaling. She encouraged this so we could get in the habit of writing. She’d give feedback in our journals, based on what we wrote.
Apparently, in my class of 25 or so students, I was the only one that took it seriously. She told me she could feel my soul in my words. That was pretty cool!
Although, the assignment she asked us to do, certainly felt more like an opportunity for me to just write then do homework.
But, then again I might have been less willing to be vulnerable with sharing a journal entry of mine with a less inspiring teacher 3.
In my freshman year of college, there was a two-part writing seminar course all first year students were required to take.
I remember the first semester of that course, Professor Lloyd often lit into my work. I would be so pissed. But, it was a good type of pissed. Looking back on it, she was almost like my copy-editor, demanding that my stories improve.
In the second semester of Professor Lloyd’s course, for my final paper in that class, I just crushed it!
It was a defiant piece. It was challenging to authority and it was edgy. My college roommate Kosko read it, and said he loved it. But, he had Professor Lloyd also, and he was like “I’m not sure if she’s going to like it”.
She absolutely loved it!
And of course she would! She was a former hippie, baby-boomer of the 1960s who retired from her job as an art designer on SNL to shape young minds. She gave me quite high praise for that essay, saying I was going to be an intellectual giant on the college campus by my senior year.
Dating back from Kindergarten all the way through Graduate School, this honestly might have been the proudest moment I ever had as a student.
When I was 20, I did this amazing study abroad program in college called “The Walk Across Europe”.
I was with a group of 25 other people, sleeping under a huge tent, walking through vineyards and villages across the countryside in France and Italy. I must have journaled at least 5 days a week on that 3 month trip.
During some group meetings, I would sometimes read my journal, and everyone was really into it.
I’m now 43. I first publicly wrote a book-review on a blog called kinja (a subsidiary of Deadspin.com) in 2014 at the age of 324. I launched my first blog on WordPress at age 35 in early 20175. I switched my blog over to Substack in Spring of 2022 at the age of 406.
What inspired me to write this post, is to address the people who ask me why I spend so much time writing.
On a couple of occasions people have suggested what or how I should write. One friend even suggested that instead of writing about politics7, I should start devoting my time to volunteering on political campaigns.
Now, I’m no stranger to working on political campaigns. I have had amazing experiences working on them in my twenties. But, choosing between writing or volunteering on a political campaign, should not be an either/or choice.
An artist doesn’t replace their art-work with something else. You “don’t give up*” your artistic passions just because it might be deemed better or more productive for society to do something else.
That’s not the point of art.
Art is one of the highest expressions of human-potential and curiosity.
*I get that art can’t always be one’s job. But, art being integral to one’s life doesn’t need to stop just because of one’s job
There’s also not just a WANT but a fundamental NEED for an artist to create art.
Ryan Holiday, a foremost writer on Ancient Stoicism - Gives his (brief) take on “The only Reason” why you should write a book8.
Honestly, while I have yet to write a book. I write this blog much more out of a NEED to write than a WANT9 .
I certainly lost sight of my need to write, at times. I have taken much longer breaks from writing than I ever plan to now.
Breaks are still absolutely necessary.
But, when I neglect to write for too long of a period of time, my mind atrophies and my spirit starves. This is similar to when I take extended breaks from exercising. During sedentary times, my body weakens, and my motivation diminishes.
I’m forever grateful to the friends that encourage me to continue writing, especially when I lose steam or confidence. They have been constant reminders to me that the more I write, the more I improve10.
I remember some of my earlier stories I wrote from my WordPress days, which took me so long to complete. And then all of a sudden writing really did start to get easier.
But, then another interesting thing started to happen. My standards for how I write stories have gotten much higher. I now have moments where I literally am spending so much time just trying to pare down my story to keep it under 1500 or 2000 words, just to keep all of your attention!
I’m an artist and a writer.
I have written some stories that have attracted huge audiences11.
And then I have also written some incredible stories, that I’m truly proud of. Stories that promote a great cause, but still have not had the reach or respect that it fully deserves12.
But, that’s life!
I can’t replace writing with something that’s (perceived as) more useful. I feel more useful writing. In writing I get to call my own shots, and create my own narrative. These words I write get to have a life of their own!
Writing is a form of medicine for me. It’s like a lifeline for me to transport into a better world.
Even some of my subscribers that “hate-read” my work, have inspired some of my most impassioned pieces13. I hope you all keep the feedback coming. It has meant a lot to me. And it has continued to inspire me to grow as a writer14.
-JPJ
Given the novelty of it, the internet in the 1990s was actually incredibly cool, unlike today’s internet which totally causes everyone to freak out when the WIFI goes out in the house.
When pop-culture critic Chuck Klosterman wrote about the 1990s being our last great decade, I think he was referring to these “shared” moments, like when everyone was so fascinated and transfixed by “Dial-up Internet”. Chuck Klosterman’s “The Nineties - A Book” REVIEW
When I think back to my most inspiring and understanding teachers, I think of how they shaped me as a teacher, now. This story I wrote about “human-behavior” was partially inspired by all the best teachers I ever had. The Human Condition and Self-Destructive Behavior
I initially transferred this story from *Kinja over to my WordPress. Now it is here on my Substack. Personal Review of Peter Richmond's Biography on "Phil Jackson: Lord of The Rings"
Here is my (mostly) dormant - WordPress site, which directs you to my Substack. https://joshoffthepress.com/
That Ryan Holiday video was found in my YouTube search on Writing is an Art/ART of writing
One of the coolest things to happen for me on Substack was when, My Commitment to Writing posting got recognized by the larger Substack community, on - Substack Writers: Milestone roundup.
This story of mine On Columbine was part of the reason why I was recognized on Substack Writers: Milestone roundup.
Thanks for sharing your writing evolution!