Writing101

Today I came across the "Ten Steps to Better Writing":

1. Write.
2. Write more.
3. Write even more.
4. Write even more than that.
5. Write when you don’t want to.
6. Write when you do.
7. Write when you have something to say.
8. Write when you don’t.
9. Write every day.
10. Keep writing.

In my childhood and teenage years I wrote all of the time, but as an adult I've moved away from it. Sure, I have my times where I find myself writing stories from my childhood and other experiences I've had, but I've not been consistent with it.

Now is not the best time to make a pledge to try to write everyday, considering my right hand is in a splint from carpal tunnel surgery. But there was a time when I was younger that I dreamed of being a writer. Not my main career, and not something I saw myself accomplishing at this age, but something I thought I might like to do when I was older.

Where is all of this coming from? A blog I read often had the question "What did you want to be when you grew up, and did you accomplish it?" I wanted to be lots of things growing up: Brain surgeon, fabric cutter, painter, graphic design artist, pathologist, radiologist, clarinetist, historian, a (good) politician, business owner, a marketing genius...see where this is going? It explains why I didn't jump into college right away, that's for sure. My head and soul were dragging me in 100 different directions. But the one thing that was consistent was that I wanted to be a writer. I loved books as a child, and would read several a week. I aspired to be like those authors whose books took me on a journey and placed me in their world. So to answer the blogger's question, no, I have not accomplished what I wanted to be.

My life has taken interesting directions these 33 years, and while I actually had several poems and short stories published while in school in local and national publications, I have yet to achieve that dream in an adult capacity. Don't look for my name anywhere in the near future, but someday...maybe. In the meantime I have to get my hand to heal, my life together, and all the stories floating around in my head sorted out and into written word. Are there other things I'd like to accomplish with my life? Of course. But this is the one thing that I've dreamed of since I was six, and I figure with the interesting course my life has taken it has to be for some purpose. And maybe the purpose involves the written word, be it electronic or on paper. I won't be picky.