photo credit: mgstanton Nature Girl via photopin (license)
“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” Anais Nin
I wonder what it was that caused you to put your pen to paper. Today, yesterday, right now. I wonder also what caused you to choose to share your writing. I wonder what your motive was to write at all? Have you thought about it?
Have you thought about the weight of your words, whether you share them or suppress them?
Has something caused you to stop writing? What?
About your writing-
What was your experience of writing like, in the beginning? Maybe you didn’t start with paper and pen, perhaps it was a typewriter.
Or, maybe you wrote on a computer and dove right into blogging like a freshwater fish swimming happily in the shallows.
Whatever the initial impetus, what keeps you writing? What keeps you motivated to write? Further, if you are one who shares your words? Why do you do it?
Profit? Prestige? Passion?
Significance? Hunger for recognition? Desire for acknowledgment?
To maintain sanity? Exorcise your personal demons? As personal therapy?
Why do you choose to hit “publish” on a post? What keeps you from doing so, when you don’t?
What was your earliest writing goal? Did you have one? Have you always dreamed of writing? Did you hope to pursue a career of it? Or did you stumble upon this great love for sharing prose on paper, inspiration via the internet, thoughts through a variety of platforms and outlets- by serendipitous surprise.
I know this seems like a lot of questions…IS a lot of inquiry. But, it’s important to consider.
“Why do we do what we do?” is a question I always come back to. Not sure if it’s because of my background and experience in coaching or my inquisitive nature. As a matter of fact, that’s probably the reason I first put pen to paper myself.
I have an excessive adoration for the word, “why”. It’s only overshadowed slightly by my passion for the word, “how”. Of course there is the who, what, where…but it’s the why that burns in my soul like a wildfire. My motive for writing has always been an inquisition of why. An exercise in exploration and self-discovery.
Why me, why them, why you, why God, why here, why now, why then…my head overflowed with why. If I didn’t let it seep out of me, through a pen …why would have driven me mad.
The first Season of the Writing Life is what I describe as Contemplative, though Pre-Contemplative would be a better description…it is the accumulated life experiences carefully collected and thought upon intently. Thoughts pile up within the house of the soul, longing for release.
How can they be released?
A myriad of ways. For the writer, and by the way if you write- you are a writer. We are all little creators of some kind…If you feel the word seems too BIG for you, think small…you are a mini-writer. Better? A mini- artist. A mini- painter. A mini-poet. A mini-architect. A mini-chef. Don’t be intimidated by titles. And don’t let others define what you are or are not. If the perceived BIGNESS of a title feels intimidating…allow yourself time to grow into it. Be mini. I’m a mini- author. But, still I’m an author. I’m not well-known, but I am known by the One who Knows all! And it is He who determines my steps. He gives me words to share, and I share them.
I sense His presence and power as I live out my life daily, but feel His pleasure and purpose when I write!
The 1st Season of the writing life is found in the storehouse of life experience which is collected, considered and curated over a period of years awaiting the proper time to be revealed.
It’s the place of living, the beneath the surface, the soul development, the character becoming. Whatever else it is not, it is this: The beginning. The dirt. The ground…the foundation. The standing at the edge waiting to jump. It is the meditation before the dawn. The edge of the abyss. It is the precursor.
If you are in Season 1 of the writing life, you stand at the edge of dawn awaiting the Sun’s arrival…hopeful.
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Stay tuned …as I continue to explain the 4 seasons of writing as I have experienced them. You can read part 1 HERE: 4 Seasons of the Writing Life (Part 1)
This is my story, this is my song…
#writingredeemed
I am Writing Redeemed in October for 31 Days,
Thank you for joining me on the journey. I pray my sharing encourages you in your own journey. Write about it, journal it, share it! Most of all, encourage another along the way.
Enthusiastically, Dawn 
Lots of good questions to contemplate…and i like your idea of “growing into” the title of “writer”!
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I agree with you, as I read this, I’m also finding answers for myself from all those questions.
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Dawn- I loved writing since I was a girl, I loved learning cursive writing. I was the dork who liked book reports and research papers. I think I always wanted to write a book or be a fiction author. I have been in the contemplation stage for many seasons…I know that my first call to write for others was on the eve of 2000…I read Isaiah 50:4 and responded to the call to “write words for the weary” and I have been doing so via a group email at first to friends and family and then eventually blogging and in 2011 self-published Defining Moments: Overflowing with Words. I write to live. I live to write. And I do feel connected to God when I write. thanks for asking 🙂
That I may know how to sustain the weary one with a word. (Isaiah 50:4, partial)
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