The Call of A Writer

Writers feel the call of the written word. They can’t deny it and it’s futile to fight it. We MUST write. There is no alternative. Oh, we can attempt to ignore it, comparing it to a fad which will soon fade away. But it doesn’t. It can’t.

If it were that easy to give up, why do so many commit to writing day after day? Certainly there are easier occupations to pursue. Why do we torture ourselves so, in the hope of seeing our words in print, picked up by someone in a bookstore or library and read with delight? We don’t do it for fame, for surely, most writers would scoff at that notion. So few hit “stardom” and even those that do work hard to achieve it.

No, writing for those of us committed to it, whether pre-published,  a debut author or a multi-published writer, agented or not, battle ourselves, our time, our deadlines to find the perfect word. I set daily word count goals. Some people set time goals. Some just write and don’t set any goals. The point is, we are all writing. To do otherwise would be to turn our backs on our gifting, for this is what it is.

Writing is our life, and the words we write our food, our sustenance, moving us from this day to the next with the hope our words will touch just one person. After all, if we wrote simply to entertain ourselves the fire wouldn’t burn so long.  The desire would eventually fade away. But to touch another life, to make someone consider different circumstances, or to simply help them escape harsh realities, that is why we write.

The heart of my writing is to share life.  A journey taken alone can become discouraging, but a road walked with many companions, that’s where joy can be found.

{this post is dedicated to all my writer friends}