Why Write?
Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal (Photo by Joram Piatigorsky)
During a recent talk at the outdoor Lisbon Book Festival, I was asked what drives me to write. While I was satisfied with my answer at the time, I realized I had skirted the question, “Why write?”
The question followed me in as I entered the famous Chapel of Bones in Evora, Portugal. There, a poem on a pillar encourages further reflection.
That last line – "The more you pause, the more you will progress" – makes me wonder whether I write to pause, to reflect and thus progress, whatever that might mean. Do I write to ‘progress’? ...