WHY I LOVE TO WRITE

Anyone that thinks writing is easy is either extremely naive or in denial. Yes, it is an expression of your thoughts at any given time and Lord knows it's the best form of really inexpensive therapy that I can think of, but it is by no means an easy endeavor especially if done with any integrity, intelligence or style.

I would love to say that I've spent most of my life writing something. That would be an incredible untruth. I've realized that there were many reasons that I was attracted to writing later in life than most. I think one of the biggest reasons is that it allows me to vent without being interrupted by other people's opinions. The older I get, the more things I have to get off my chest.

There are other more noble reasons as well though. I consider it a very personal, almost spiritual experience at times. It can sometimes feel like a pouring out of my very soul or a communication with the divine.

Of course by the time it leaves my mind and travels from my brain, down my arm, into my hand, through my fingers, onto my pen or a computer keyboard, it may have gone from being divine to demonic or at least somewhat defiled.

Depending on the topic, my mindset, the state of my health or my amount of sleep or a pending deadline, my writing experience can be as pleasant as a warm summer evening on a back porch swing nursing a cool cosmopolitan martini or as unpleasant as getting a root canal at the dentist's office.

Sometimes the ideas, feelings and words just flow and sometimes it seems I become mentally constipated.

In any case it's still the best way for me to communicate my true feelings because I'm not constantly interrupted by any other conversation other than what's going on inside my head. Of course sometimes that can become somewhat muddled and schizophrenic if I'm not careful. Either that or I have to fight the urge to get on my soap box and preach or teach or vent. That's when I really get dangerous.

I think what I enjoy the most about writing though is that I get time to review my thoughts and edit them before they are actually exposed to the light of day. I can put them on paper or on a screen and add or delete where I choose as opposed to being under the pressure of engaging in an active conversation where I can encounter differing opinions or possibly suffer from a severe case of "foot in mouth" disease.

What I love the most about writing is that it allows me to engage in conversation with my favorite person - someone that I love spending time with and whose thoughts, opinions and feelings I revere more than anyone else's.

ME.