tick, tick, tick

It is a stereotype that many women have a biological clock that makes them feel rushed to have babies. While, for some people this is true, I think everyone has their own personal clock. For my mom it's winning the lottery. And while I have known people who feel that time is ticking away for them to have kids, for me it is writing a book. I never felt rushed to have a kid. I figured, if it happened it happened. But every so often I get this sensation that I'm running out of time to write. After the new year, I felt it more than ever. My goal is to publish by the time I'm 25. I don't know why I picked that age. It's not like I'll be old after that or anything. It's just what I want. Meanwhile, the clock keeps ticking...

Finally Getting Started on that Novel

On an episode of Family Guy, Stewie ask Brian if he's still working on that novel--the one he's been working on for three years. I can't help but feel like he's personally making a dig at me. I've been working on a novel for years and I have nothing to show for it. But this year, I finally started my novel. I am taking a class called Individual Studies in Writing. I am learning more about writing and the publishing process from my mentor, Karla Stouse, who is a published author. I've never had a mentor before, and I believe with her help and expertise I will finally make progress.

So the next time Stewie nags Brian about that book I won't feel such a personal sting.

History Repeats Itself

When I was a senior in high school, I started to write my first novel. I began to put writing above everything. I wrote during class, during lunch, after school, and late into the night until early morning. I even turned down my friends' request to hang out in order to continue writing.

I realized in order to justify writing, when I should be doing homework, I would have to find a reason to prioritize it.When it was time to choose a topic for my senior project--which is something seniors at my school had to complete in order to graduate--I decided to write my book.

History repeats itself. I am once again a senior; only now I am in college, and I am writing another novel. But in order to justify writing it I had to fit it into a class. So I took Individual Studies in Writing. Now, I HAVE to write.

Of course, history didn't repeat itself entirely. This time I do my homework first, go to work, and I remember to return my friends calls.

Why We Write

Writing is often a discouraging, overwhelming, and intimidating task. So, why do we subject ourselves to do what I'm describing as being seemingly akin to torture?

Simply, many of us feel driven. It can be a stirring, like a gentle nudge, that we feel deep within us that compels us to lift the pen on occasion. Or, in contrast, it can be a constant inner nagging that makes the writing project feel more time pressing than a to-do list.

Human kind may have first developed writing for the basic function of communication. But writing has evolved to include the task of passing on knowledge or ideas, telling a story, recording events, and expressing emotions or thoughts.

Some people write because they have something they wish to say or to persuade others to believe. Authors can also become immortalized by their writing. As long as you have a novel gathering dust on a book shelf, you will live forever.

Of course, money can be a motivating factor--although I'd rather read a memo than a story written without passion.

For me, I've enjoyed writing since I was a child. I've advanced from crude drawings and misspelled words in little green notebooks to my first real attempt at writing a novel.

It is important to know why you are writing. If there isn't a reason to write it, then there isn't a reason to read it.