ONE WEEK UNTIL NaNoWriMo!!
This is from another assignment courtesy of NaNoWriMo 2011: Why do you write?
I write because I have so many fascinating thoughts in my head that I know others would find interesting, given they were written with the right set of words in the right order. It’s up to me to put those right words in the right order…and there is the challenge.
As a youth, I wrote constantly. I wrote poetry, fiction, song lyrics, whatever I could get on paper. I posted my work on my bedroom walls, in my Trapper Keeper, and in any random notebook I could get my hands on. My mother was so proud that she sometimes made her guests sit down and read all 187 hand-written pages of the “novel” I penned in four arduous years, from 4th to 8th grade. Other times I read my poetry aloud. These were usually followed by a piano recital. I took 9 years of piano lessons, and while I liked it, I knew it wouldn’t be my ultimate calling. In college I majored in creative writing, knowing full well my mother was dreading graduation day when I would not, as I anticipated, have a fabulous writing job the instant I had diploma in hand. Her prediction was correct.
When I moved to Portland I jumped into a weekly writing group. That lasted maybe 8 months, and I quickly dropped it when the bellydance lessons I had been taking switched nights, which conflicted with my writing group nights. I soon left writing behind and pursued dancing with the greatest passion. Bellydance has done so much for my self esteem and bodily grace…but the feeling I get from performing in front of an audience is not the same as when I successfully post a blog. Don’t get me wrong, they are both amazing, but writing is my soul. It’s what I have always yearned to do.
Last year I participated in the 2010 NaNoWriMo, after hearing about it for several years. I took the plunge! I completed 17,000 words out of the expected 50,000. I was undaunted. I will try again this year! In the meantime, I have started a weekly blog that I consider to be one of the best parts of my life. When I started it, I thought it would be terribly difficult to find things to write about. The truth is, it has been the exact opposite. Words have flowed out of me every week, sometimes twice a week, from the start. I’ve had over 1,000 hits on my blog in the last 5 months. I consider this amazing, and I don’t mind saying it makes me feel a little more legit as a writer.
So I persist. I love it. I will continue to do it, even after my bestseller hits the market.
So…why do YOU write?