Barnabás Börcsök

You should not.

Not because someone tells you so.

Not because you think it is cool or a good thing to do.

Not because you think anything.

You should write because a feeling inside you inexplicably makes you to. You should write simply because you can’t not write. You should write because the words just flood you, and you can’t do anything else than to write them down.

I heard this idea many years ago from a successful writer when he was asked by an aspirant, novice writer in an interview why he should write – or something along those lines. The main idea of the answer was as above.

At the time I found this answer to be patronizing, even preposterous. I guess one could even argue that next to the creative and artistic side, there is another side to writing; one that is methodological and takes a lot of determination to do it, especially on a professional level.

Still, this idealiastic approach comes to my mind many times. The idea of doing anything because of your inner self doesn’t let you not do it sounds like something to strive for. Imagine a job, a research or start-up idea, a relationship. If you find that thing that is uniquely yours, and you do it not because you have to, not because you should, not because it pays well, not because someone tells you it’s a good idea, but because you hear it calling you, and you can’t not do it, sounds simply magical. It sounds authentic. And it also sounds like something one has to be really careful with.