Guest Post: Why Do You Write? by Rafia Khader

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Why do you write?

Sure, you love to write. But have you ever asked yourself why you love to write?

If you’re anything like me, writing might be the only way you feel you can communicate with others. As someone who is both shy and introverted, writing is not a choice. It’s a compulsion. Writing allows me the space to be myself and truly be heard.

I grew up feeling alone, not resonating with any of the narratives I saw around me as a child and as an adolescent. To a certain extent, I still feel that way as a thirty-year old.

I am a former overweight, Canadian-born, Muslim woman of Indian ethnicity living in a post-9/11 America.

You can imagine how middle and high school must have been like for me. I’ll give you a hint: I wasn’t a popular kid. It wasn’t just that I was different - I felt invisible. One of my closest friends in high school didn’t even know I was Muslim until senior year.

The issues that are important to me aren’t the issues most people seem to care about. Even within the different communities I am a part of, I feel like an outlier.

I don’t fit in with any of the narratives that surround me.

But I want to desperately fit in.

So, that’s why I write. Because when I do so, I get to create my own narrative. I fit in in the world that I create.

Even though most people will probably never understand my enthusiasm for the Oxford Comma, or why I am so obsessed with coming up with the perfect plot line for that book I just need to write, I know why I write and why I must continue to do so.

Writing has been a constant companion for me when (most of) the rest of the world told me I didn’t belong.

So, why do you write? Maybe all that you’ve been through is pointing you in the direction you must now go. I know that the unique experiences I’ve had will inform the kind of book I write. And maybe that’s exactly what the world needs. Are you willing to share your story with the rest of the world?


Rafia Khader is a writer, blogger, and aspiring novelist with a penchant for cake and cows. She shares her reflections on life, faith, marriage, and writing - all with a dash of humour - on her blog Cake & Cows. 

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Why do you write? Rafia Khader shares why she puts words on the page—join the discussion on @Ava_Jae's blog. (Click to tweet)