Mixed Motives

BLOG PROMPT:
Zinsser writes "Motivation is at the heart of writing" (page 99). What does that mean to you?


RESPONSE:
Isn't motivation the heart of everything? Doesn't everything begin and end with desire? What does motivate me to write? Well…uh….a sense of obligation, truthfully. But what drives that? This is a trickier prompt than I thought. Perhaps the drive behind the writing is a sense of talent development, the thought that I can increase or lose it--there being no other option. Perhaps it is a desire for recognition. Maybe it's my poor attempt at competitiveness, since I never tried the sports thing. Maybe it's a sublimation desire. I'm afraid (or should I be?) it is nothing akin to the philosopher who held the boy's head under water and said as soon as you desire something as much as you desire air, you will be ready for it. Perhaps I should speak from ideal: I should be motivated to write as part of an ethical obligation to the other--I should create writing that serves rather than self-serves.