I’ve been a member of the Authors Guild for decades and I am proud to share my reflection for the #WhyWritersMatter campaign from The Writers’ Union of Canada (TWUC).

Does writing matter? It does. Especially to the writer who draws stories from the raw material of their observations and transforms them into reflections fueled by the imagination and the genetic gift of invention.

The serious writer of fiction offers a mirror to the reader, hoping to unscramble the distortion of the human condition and provide the reader some version of the truth of his or her existence.

We are all searching for life’s meaning, for understanding of our fellow men who spend barely a wink of time on the planet. While I approach the answer from a creative writer’s vantage, the question implies a universality of the written word as a primary tool of communication, enlightenment, criticism, analysis, opinion, contention, doctrine and dogma that must be protected, unfettered and untrammeled by any form of censorship or restriction.

In its practice and presentation, the arrangement of words is an art form that creates meaning out of the brain’s musings and must be respected, tolerated and endured as a handmaiden of thought—whatever the subject matter.