Why I Write

I'll be the first to admit I'm not the greatest at keeping up this blog, but I know deep in my heart, I am a writer.   I have always loved books and at times have dreamt about writing fiction, but I've learned over time that, basically, I'm not creative enough to come up with original stories.
I started this blog because friends were asking me to write about different grocery store deals.  I've always felt inadequate about that because there are so many other bloggers out there who devote more time and energy to that, and therefore are much more successful.

I've only been writing here when I feel like I have something "worth" sharing (today's post excluded), so that's part of why my posts are few and far between.

I have kept journals most of my life. I don't know exactly how early I started keeping journals, but I distinctly remember keeping one as early as 3rd grade.  Some were fancy diaries, others were just spiral notebooks. I've gone through phases where I was more disciplined about writing than others, but I've never been far from a pen and paper.  When I was working as a flight attendant I even learned to keep a spiral notebook in my "gadget bag" so I could write when the mood struck.  (Before I started carrying my own paper I used to write on the back of blank medical forms because it was the only paper I could find with a blank side on the airplane).   Until I started this blog everything I've ever written (with the exception of homework assignments) has been private.

Just after I got married I went back and took a few college classes. One of the classes I took was a Creative Non-fiction class.  I absolutely loved it!.  It was the first time I could write in class the way I'd always written privately.   I gained a passion for writing.   The professor had us write a letter to ourselves 5 years down the road.  I had forgotten about that letter until this spring when it arrived at my parents' house.   One of the things I wrote was that I was going to continue writing, even if my projects never left the computer.   That letter arrived just weeks after I started this blog.

Over the weekend I couldn't sleep and was struggling with something.  Because of my circumstances there was no place to write and it really bothered me.  I didn't have paper or a pen.  It was 3am and I was in a hotel room with my husband, so even if I'd had pen and paper I couldn't turn on the lights without disturbing him.   In that moment I realized how important writing is to me.

I write because I enjoy it

I write because it helps me pray (my mind tends to wander a lot)

I write because it helps me focus my thoughts

I write to document life's highs and lows

I write when I can't say what I'm thinking or feeling

I write because I can't not write