A Love Affair with Writing

During my teens, I kept a journal of my thoughts, feelings, fears and dreams. It helped me cope with life and things that were out of my control. I would write about a problem, and then look at it from the viewpoint of someone else. It removed the emotional turmoil that clutters your thinking process. It made it easier to decide what to do and easier to deal with the issue.

As my love for reading grew, so did my desire to write. Keeping a journal helped organize my thoughts and develop discipline with my writing. I was always fascinated to watch a blank, white sheet of paper fill with a story that didn't exist moments earlier. I worked diligently to improve my writing skills with classes and continual writing. People encouraged me to publish my stories. But along the way, life happens and it gets hectic. You convince yourself that you don't have time to devote to writing and that you'll get back to it one day.

At one point I thought it would be less time consuming to write children's literature. (Not sure what planet I was on at the time.) One day while I plugged away at a story, my youngest came to me. He took my hand and said, "Mommy, come keep me company." His way of asking , "Come play with me." I looked at the paper in the typewriter (Back in the olden days, we didn't have computers, a real bummer.) and then looked at his sweet face. I thought I can write about life or live it, and at the moment my child wanted me to live it. So once again I tucked my dream away.

But I always picked it back up, I had no choice. I wish I'd had this book back then on writing habits that I bought several years ago. It states that if you only write one page a day, that at the end of a year, you will have a novel. It was a freeing revelation. My thought before that was you needed to be secluded, and write your story from beginning to end to be a true writer. That's rarely possible. I've since learned that you can call a paragraph or two a day progress.

If I read that bit of wisdom when I was younger, I wouldn't have postponed pursuing my passion, so don't use lack of time as an excuse not to write, because anything you can write a day, keeps your imagination and creativity alive, along with your spirit.

The whole writing process can become additive. I lose track of the time. The page disappears and the movie in my mind begins to unfold, the story goes in the direction I want to take it, or more accurately, in the direction my characters want to take it. I write because it has become as much a part of me as breathing. I write because I love to.