I guess I have always wanted to write.
When I was in fifth grade, I remember longing for the time when my English teacher would finally assign an essay.
At that time, the only thing I knew about essays was that it required a lot of writing, and most people hated them.
Me? I couldn’t wait.
In fact, I was so excited to have a writing assignment, I gave myself one.
I also tried to convince my dog to talk to me, but hey…stranger things, right?
Anyway, as I sat in the window of my sister’s bedroom and watched one afternoon as she played outside, I took out my new notebook, turned to a crisp new, wide-ruled page, and carefully printed the title of my masterpiece: S.A.
I’d like to say that I was writing the early concept of Sons of Anarchy or lengthy articles for Scientific America, but the truth is I just didn’t know how to spell “essay”.
In my teens, I wrote in journals and notebooks and hid them in my drawers so no one would see what I had written (mostly that I had a huge crush on a boy named Peter. Or was it Nelson?) Don’t answer that mom. I know you read them. 🙂
Then in my early career life I wrote, or rather, typed, so much and about the same subject (personal injury and medical malpractice) that I sort of lost my love of writing. Writing became a chore and bonus, taught me more than an average person should know about medicine. Hypochondriac much?
After my children were born I could barely write a grocery list, let alone any type of story or poem. If I could have written anything it would have been chicken scratches on a soggy burp cloth that read “send housekeeper, or alcohol, ASAP”.
While part of that still rings true today — I mean, who has time to clean — I have rediscovered my love for words and writing, and am happy to finally have an outlet for All.Of.These.Thoughts swirling around my brain.
So if you’ve ever thought about writing something; a poem, short story, novel or non-fiction book, I would whole heartedly encourage you to do so.
Right now.
Pick up your pen or turn on your computer and get out as much as you can.
It doesn’t need to make sense.
You don’t have to start at the beginning.
Just write it down, put those words on paper, and see what happens next.
You might discover you love essays after all.
xo
M.