Reasons for My Writer's Life

Over at Writer's Evolution this week, they are talking about why they became writer's. I'm finding it interesting to see the progression each one made, learning that the journey to recognizing the writer in one's self is different for each writer.

For me, I've always been a writer. I never doubted that I would be published or that I was any good -- well never any lasting, serious doubts. Doubts on whether a story or character is any good is, I think, part of being a writer, most likely required. I believe that I will be published, I know there is always something to learn, someone better or different, and that writing is what I am passionate about. And while I was born a story teller, querying an editor when I was 11, and I'm sure that book (250 hand written pages in preteen girly scrawl) is around here somewhere, buried hopefully forever, life often pulls us in different directions. My family discouraged writing and anything creative, and are only now learning to accept that I'm creative and a writer and I'm not changing, so I chose routes that seemed appropriately acceptable to them while not limiting me, and along the way have found a writer's life greatly enriched because of my experiences and the people I've met along the way.

I'm in my senior year of college as a non-traditional student and am looking at grad school and weighing my options and wondering now, if my job goal will work with the fact that I am, have always been, and will always be a writer. And I wonder if it's possible to combine the two very different paths or shift between them, because right now, they aren't going the same way.

I have friends who hesitate to call themselves writers because they don't find it acceptable, grew up knowing that pursuing any form of art was unacceptable, or because they don't necessarily want to be published. If you have characters who won't stop bothering you, scenes or ideas that will not move from your mind, more often than not it means you are a writer. Its who are, it's not bad, evil, or unacceptable, it just is. Writer's are different and you don't have to be published or want to be published to be a writer, you just need to be a storyteller.

I write to tell stories, to provide a bit of escape and entertainment, to make someone forget about the problems they are facing for a little while and in the end, hopefully, maybe, give hope. Lofty goals I'm sure. Especially since I'm not rich, and my life experiences aren't the worse by any means, I am just a storyteller. My job, my goal, my life is that of a storyteller. I tell a story, you divine the meaning.