I had an experience recently that answered the question for me: why do writers write? I was sitting in my office working on my latest book, Awakening Counsel: A Practical Guide to Creating the Life You Want to Live.

Writers’ doubts.

As I worked, I was thinking the thoughts all writers must think when starting a new project: What am I doing? Why am I writing this book? Will I ever finish it? Will it ever amount to anything? Will anyone ever want to read it? Will it make a difference in the world?

A call from a reader.

Just then, the phone rang.

“Hello, I’m George Mabon,” the caller said. “I’m an estates lawyer.”

I said, “Yes sir, what can I do for you today?”

“Well, you’ve already done it,” he said. “I just called to say thank you for your article on how to estimate costs in business litigation.”

My mind raced back through all of the articles I had ever written on many subjects: intuition, manifestation, healing, and earlier articles in my chosen profession, law. What article, I thought.

“Could you please remind me a little bit about the article, Mr. Mabon?” I said.

“Yes, it’s the one where you talk about all of the different types of attorney and client time and expense that have to go into the litigation process and how whether to take any of those steps has to be balanced against their cost and the amount in controversy in the dispute.”

My mind keeps racing back until it comes to the shocking realization that the article he’s talking about was published in a local bar association magazine 30 years ago.

“If I recall, Mr. Mabon, that article was written quite some time ago,” I said.

“Yes, but I’ve been using it a couple of times a month ever since it came out. You see, I mostly write wills and trusts, but people often ask me about disputes and courts. And I use your article to tell them what they can expect by way of costs. The article is quite accurate and my clients experience usually comes out just like the article predicts. And I was doing that again today, and I realized that I had never said thanks for all the help that that article has allowed me to give my clients over the years. So, I wanted to call and do that.”

“Wow, thank YOU, Mr. Mabon,” I said, “you’ve made my day!”

“You’re welcome,” he said.

We talk for a while, and, after exchanging a few more pleasantries, we ring off.

Encouragement today from an old article.

And I get to think about it. That article was one of the first ones I had ever written, and it was done 30 years ago. I remember wondering at the time whether anyone would publish it, whether anyone would read it, and whether it would make any difference, or whether it would get lost in the blizzard of information everyone’s exposed to.

And now, whilst thinking similar thoughts about the book I’m currently working on, I get a call out of the blue from someone who read the old article when it was published and who has often used it during the past 30 years to make a difference in his world.

The gifts of intuition and the means to carry it out.

And I think: that’s why writers write: something inside prompts them to share an experience that’s meant to be shared in a way that will make some difference in the world. And that intuition carries with it the energy to overcome all of the drawbacks, rejections, and difficulties to putting that experience into print and out to the world.

I’m thankful to Mr. Mabon for calling to thank me, and I’m thankful to the universe for Mr. Mabon’s call at a key moment to remind me that writers are given special gifts. Writers are first given the ability to communicate insight through the written word to others. Writers are then given the gift of life experience. They are sometimes given the gift of insight into that experience. And when an intuition with an insight into experience comes, writers are given the gift of the creative energy to make their writing exist in a tangible form accessible to the world.

Why writers write.

Why do writers write? They write because they have been given something special. They write because they are compelled to. They write because they are fulfilling their destiny to use the gifts they have been given to make a difference in the world.

And that’s why writers write.