What I do today is just a continuation of what I did then putting feelings on paper, sorting out things. . . Emotion is often the motivator for expression through writing, or through any art. The writers were motivated by emotion and often used reading and later, writing, as autotherapy. Barron noted that the student writers in the IPAR study were often motivated to write by a need for self therapy, but the adult writers who had reached a level of recognized success as creative writers also spoke of their emotional need to write. I could go on and on here with example after example.
Young artists draw.
Young singers sing. Young actors have backyard theaters on the clotheslines. What begins in the crucible of the family becomes the secret and therapeutic retreat. The creative writers retreat into reading, and then the self therapy and of experiencing the pleasure found in the meditation of writing. When we speak about the need for counseling and for understanding the sensitivities of talented students, the presence of an element of creative expression in the domain of their choice may be in order.