My writing challenge today is to simply share with all of you why I write. What is it that compels some of us to put words on paper, hoping that someone will read them and be touched? For me, writing has been a lifelong journey, a way to express those things I think and feel.
I have always loved words and always loved to read. Language fascinates me. Even in elementary school, I recall our class creating a “book” of stories. I was so proud that my story was actually in a book! As a teenager, I kept a diary. They were quite popular at the time. I remember writing my deepest thoughts and emotions. It was a way to work out those confusing teenaged feelings I had at the time.
Several years ago, while working in the healthcare industry, I found myself drawn to writing a book. A new law was being introduced and how to implement it was confusing for our industry. I shared a dream with a publisher, who agreed to publish my book if I would write it. That book then went on to be updated five years later and expanded to cover the broader healthcare documentation industry. It was a way to help others and that’s why I wrote that one.
Connections
This blog was originally started when I lived in Barbados in 2009. It was a way for me to stay connected to the world at home. It was a way to feed my soul by putting words on paper. It was often about life musings, sometimes about book reviews, and sometimes about things I felt were important as we create the stories of our lives.
I believe we all get to write the story of our life. It’s in the choices we make every single day. And so, I wrote about that. I also began to share some of the books I was reading and my thoughts on them.
To Process Life
My writing is sometimes a way to process life and the things that are happening. Writing clarifies things for me. It always has.
The real beginnings of writing online for me, didn’t happen on this blog. It happened on a site called Squidoo. My first and most popular “lens” created there was about my experiences as a straight spouse. I needed to process that, and writing helped me do that. It also led to many connections of people in a similar situation where I could offer encouragement. I have since moved that lens to this website, and you can read it here: Survival as a Straight Spouse
It was through writing that i was able to put my feelings together when I said good bye to my grandmother. Writing allowed me to process that tremendous loss in ways I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to do.
To Make a Difference
In 2009, I found myself “downsized” from a job that I expected would last until retirement. I was in an industry full of changes and created a website where I could write things that mattered for that tribe. It was a way to help others sort through the changes that were happening.
After attending a Women of Faith conference, I became fascinated with studying the promises in the Bible that could be applied to life today. I began to write my book Standing on the Promises. That book was a work in progress, one where life simply got in the way and in periods of grief over the loss of my grandmother, I simply couldn’t finish it. In 2014, I took a challenge to write 500 words a day in a program offered by Jeff Goins. It was that process that allowed me to complete the book and send it on to be published.
The Journey Continues
I will continue to write. I am a writer. It’s what I do. It fuels my soul. Along the way, I hope that it encourages my readers, that it touches lives, and that it makes a difference.
Send to Kindle