Why I Write

WHY I WRITE - By Terri Andersen
In a writing class I once attended, we were asked to answer the question "Why do I want to write?" Good question. I've often asked myself exactly that and haven't really come up with a good answer. It seems there's something driving me to want to write, yet I seem to have a tendency to be lazy about it and usually don't get around to writing something until I have an assignment of some kind or a deadline. Often I don't have the confidence that I could write anything worthwhile, so why does my mind keep telling me to do it? When I actually do get something written, something seems to come alive in me and I guess that's what keeps me trying to do it. At this stage of my life, although the thrill of seeing something I wrote in print is a spirit lifter, another reason I want to write is to be able to earn some extra money to live on in retirement. "What do I want to write?" was another question asked that I didn't really have an answer for. I thought I would like to write short stories or mysteries, because I enjoy reading them so much, but I can't imagine ever being able to do it. I think what I'd really like to write is something inspirational that might help people. But so far, all I've written are articles for the local newspapers. Actually, I had a few articles written before I ever worked for a newspaper, just for fun, I guess, and when the first one was actually published, I was about as thrilled as I could be, even though I didn't get paid for it. I was working as a typesetter at the local paper at the time and an editor needed something to fill some pages, so I told her I had some things written at home and she told me to go get them, which I did. I left them with her and had no idea if she could use them or not, but when I saw two of my pieces in the paper the next day (by-line and all), I was absolutely ecstatic. It seemed people liked the articles and the editor told me I could bring more in if I wanted, which led to a monthly column for me. (No pay at first, but later they even decided to pay me to keep writing them. ) I felt like a celebrity when someone would tell me they liked my article and by now I must have written over a hundred articles, if not more. When I left the publishing business to work for the state I figured my writing days were over. But even at the State, if some company publication came out and asked for contributions from employees, I always had to put my two cents in and they always used what I wrote. Since I retired eight years ago, I got articles published in the local papers On a regular basis, and would like to do even more writing, but there's still that procrastination habit in me. A few years ago I got together once a week with two very wonderful friends who wrote and we motivated each other to get something written for magazine publication, but as often happens, little by little one thing or another kept us from meeting and that was the end of my magazine ambitions. No, I can't really say that. I still would like to write something that a magazine would print. But you know what they say about writers. . . everyone wants to be a writer but doesn't make writing the priority it takes to succeed at it. I guess that includes me.