"That is my sane place. That is the stuff that fixes me. That when I feel broken and tired, when I'm hurt, when I'm upset, going away and writing is my way of putting the world in order."
Writing plays a similar role in my own life. Through writing, I discover, I clarify, I sort through stuff. I am able to explore ideas and decisions that I have and need to make. I'll write on anything available, which may be a scrap of paper or an old envelope.
As a writing teacher, I'm often thinking about writing for what purpose? There are so many academic standards to meet and academic writing goals to accomplish, but what about writing for self and sanity? What about writing to simply explore our thoughts? What about writing to construct worlds and characters?
I found comfort in Gaiman's explanation of this particular purpose of writing in his life. It's what I do, and I was reassured by the fact that other people have discovered this important purpose for writing. Hopefully, I can find more ways to model these writing purposes with my students.
