Recently the world lost several great writers. We lost the activist Grace Paley, societ dissident Solzhenitsyn, and Jeannette Eyerly, who wrote about serious social issues for teenage girls. However, the loss that most touches my heart is RubyLee Schneider.
She was a member of our local writing group.
I had known her for about 20 years. RubyLee never made any secret of her age. She carried her 82 years with pride.
Why you write isn’t a question you ask yourself very often. Unlike the dreaded, “where do you get your ideas” questions, it isn’t a favorite of interviewers.
One January several years ago, I made a resolution to write every day. Haven’t we all done that?
By the 15th I hadn’t written at all and feeling more plagued by guilt every day. I had the solution. I didn’t need to write, didn’t need to put myself through the pain, didn’t need the guilt trip.
I vowed to stop writing and not to worry about it any more. I was no longer a writer.
That night I dreamed plot line, complete with characters’ names. When I woke up, I critiqued the story and saw which part wouldn’t work and what had to be changed to make them work. Apparently threatening to quit forced my muse up off the couch.
You don’t think about why you write very often, unless the words aren’t flowing or you receive a rejection. Then you ask yourself why.
You give up quality time with your friends and family. You miss out on the latest episodes of Lost or Survivor. I have a friend who missed the entire first Gulf War because she had a book deadline.
Some of us write to pay the bills. Others write so we can give our kids private school or braces. However, working as a barista at Starbucks would be easier and provide a steady paycheck.
Some of my reasons are
