Why do I write?
There must have been a reason for taking that creative writing class during my sophomore year in college. Maybe I wondered if writing for its own sake could interest me. Maybe I already had the bug. I don’t remember.
What I do remember is writing a paper for an introductory psychology class the following year. The assignment: describe my own theory of personality. I still have the paper, dated May 19,1967. I began with this: “Only a fool would chase a rainbow.”
That’s it. Chasing rainbows was my metaphor for the elusiveness of human personality. My professor, Dr. Gary Collins, loved the paper and gave me an “A”. I loved preparing it, and in risking a metaphor in an academic paper, I sensed that with a little effort, I could write outside the box.
I was hooked. Ever since, I’ve loved the challenge of not just writing, but crafting something hopefully worth reading. (Or worth listening to, on a couple thousand Sunday mornings in the years that followed.)
But always, the greatest joy has been in the writing.
By the way: forty-five years later, Dr. Collins was the keynote speaker at my 50th class reunion. Now in his 80’s, he’s as sharp, funny, and gracious as he was when I wrote that paper. I thanked him for his unanticipated yet pivotal impact on my life, when I discovered that writing can be more than chasing rainbows.
