I’m not a huge blog reader, but there are a few I follow and occasionally even post comments on that day’s topic. Recently, Under Chalet’s Roof (http://chaletpublishers.blogspot.com) posed an interesting series of questions. Why do you write? What drives you to sit in front of your computer or grab pen/pencil and paper? Did you choose to do this or did it choose you? When did you know you were a writer? When did you first call yourself a writer?
I posted a brief explanation on their site. But after I was done, I found myself continuing to pondering these questions throughout the day. (The blog was originally posted on Chalet’s site on April 22, 2010.) Why exactly do I write?
I’m not certain whether I chose to write or it chose me. However, the one thing I’m certain of is what drives me to write. For lack of a better word, I’ll call it addiction. If I don’t sit and write at least a little every day, I become cranky and edgy. And everyone knows, when the mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy!
I’m not certain that I knew I was a writer until I started writing. Looking back though, it was probably always in me. I would read books and comment on how the ending could have been better, certain things the characters should have done, and whether or not the author’s style was too wordy.
When did I first dare to call myself a writer? In October 2009, when I attended my first conference. The New Jersey Romance Writers of America’s Put Your Heart in a Book Annual Conference. I attended it three weeks after the completion of my first novel and it was time to call myself what I am, a writer.
Beth,
I like your sentence about you not knowing you were a writer until you started writing! That’s a real truth. So many people lament, “I wish I could write. I just can’t. Never have.” Perhaps here’s where your sentence comes in: Write and then you’ll know if you were born to be a writer.
I’ve been writing for 30 years now, starting as a journalist at a large newspaper and going on foreign assignments. Then the first book (urged on by Eugenia Price, noted Southern historical novelist and my friend and mentor) was published, followed by books two and three. In the last year I have finished a novel, begun another and just completed a ghostwriting job — a book for a wonderful man in Washington.
You wear the title “writer” very well, Beth. I can feel your energy in anything you write. Keep writing. You just might be surprised one day!
Have a wonderful vacation with your family. Check in when you get back, Writer!”
My very best,
Joyce Norman
Author/Publisher – Chalet Publishers, LLC