What Writing Means To Me

Wow....another two fer. Yep it is play along with Blogger Idol time again. I love this weeks assignment. It is: What Writing Means to You (Me!) It also said to read two other blog pieces that had been written about this subject, but I decided against that until after I wrote mine. I really didn't want anyone elses thoughts or ideas to subconsciously become mine. I wanted this piece to be ALL me.

What writing means to me? I have been writing since the moment that I learned to put two or three words together to form a sentence. Once I learned that what I imagined in my mind could be transferred to paper and shared, I was hooked. When I was young, if you had asked me what writing meant to me, I would have said it meant telling stories so others could read them. When I was older and had learned a little more about the craft and realized that I did actually have some ability in the writing arena, I would have told you that writing meant being able to make someone laugh or cry with just the right words. I loved knowing that something I made up in my own head could translate to a certain emotion in someone else. Perhaps it was the control freak in me, or my amazing love of words that made me start feeling that writing was not just a hobby, but a true passion. I ate, drank and slept writing....with my mind constantly darting to what my next story, my next paragraph and sometimes even my next word would be. I always knew that regardless of where I ended up or what I would do in life, writing would always be a part of it. I have not been wrong.

As I have gotten older and life has blessed me with an abundance of experiences, ideas and stories...writing now means different things to me. Sometimes writing is how I get through a particularly tough situation. It is both painful and healing to see a difficult life experience on paper. Painful because sometimes it takes a lot of strength to delve as deeply as you need to go to form just the right words.... and healing because once those words are out there, they are no longer eating away on the inside looking for a way to get out. Sometimes writing for me now is personal as I have learned to express opinions concisely, respectfully and yet still directly enough that one might walk away if not agreeing with me, at least respecting my point of view. And finally....I still love the fact that as time has gone on, I can still make someone feel something when I write. I can make people laugh, sometimes cry, occasionally make someone down right angry, and every once in awhile, make someone think.

To me, if you have skill with the written word, you hold the world in your hand for you have the ability to create anything from the most heart wrenching poetry to a song whose words linger in your mind. You can teach, create mental pictures and take a reader on a ride of vivid emotion. To me....writing is laughter, tears, pain, misery, joy, passion and desire. In other words, to me.....writing is everything!