Why create?

You must ask yourself, Why do it? What do you gain? Why are you here to do it?¹

Rainer Maria Rilke advises the young poet to enter solitude and ask themself: must I write? The poet must go into themself and search for their reason to write.² As James Baldwin said, “you don’t decide to become [a writer], you discover that you are one.”³ This reason must be beyond simple [[ Mimetic desire ]]. T.S. Eliot echoes this. He advises to write at first for no one but oneself.⁴ Steven Wilson says the same: make music because you love it, even if the world doesn’t need your music.⁵

Mary Gauthier on The Working Songwriter says the goal of writing is to find your voice, not to look cool or gain visibility of some sort. Mary Oliver calls these “only flirtations” compared to love affair of writing.⁶ Rob Ackerman says these things are only specious.⁷

!We all agree, no one looks cool —Horse ebooks

Rainer Maria Rilke advises that one grows in their craft quietly, not disturbing their growth by looking outwardly for validation which only oneself can give from their “inmost feeling” in their “most hushed hour.”⁸

Creativity is a pathway to self-discovery. Jeff Tweedy says a song can save us.⁹