The truth is, I did not consciously *decide* to become a writer. Unlike some of my friends, who dedicated months and even years to contemplating about their future professions, it wasn’t something that took a whole lot of persuasion or decision on my part. Spending my lifetime creating storylines out of the 26 letters of the alphabet, drinking an irregularly large amount of coffee to get articles written on schedule, and jumping out of my bed at ALL hours of the night to jot down an idea that popped into my mind wasn’t the life I picked for myself. No, it picked me. Because, for the record, I really do believe that paths pick people, and not the other way around.
If you’re a writer yourself, or if you know any writers, you know that this holds true for a large amount of the writer population. How to spot a writer? Well, us writers are an adaptable crowd, so there’s not really a formula for what one typically looks like. Some are successful businesspeople. Some are musicians, some athletes, some politicians. Some are teachers, some are students. Some have spent years getting educated and obtaining Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees, and some have never stepped foot in a formalized classroom. And yet, I firmly believe that a writer is a writer. No matter what. The only criteria, in my opinion, to be a writer is that you have to have the innate desire — no, scratch that, the innate NEED — to tell stories.
The first time I started writing “for fun,” or writing for a reason other than school, I was a third-grader. Essentially, that means that the first stories I told were typically tales of fairies, dogs that could fly, and people solving (semi-unrealistic) mysteries. Needless to say, the stories that I tell through my words now aren’t full of those same components anymore.
Writing is a lifestyle. It’s in your blood, it’s in every fibre of who you are. Sometimes, my family members ask me how I come up with ideas to write about (which is something that I’m pretty sure ALL writers are interrogated about), and the truth is, they just come to us; that I can’t imagine who I would be if I wasn’t a writer. It’s central to my self-image, and writing has become a part of me that I am sure I would literally not survive without. It’s an outlet for expression I am so grateful to have found.
Why do I write? While a lot of writers have a catalyst for why they began writing, whether it be an event or a mentor, that’s not really what keeps them coming back to it — it was what inspired them to begin, not to keep at it. And with writing, there’s a lot of “keeping at it.” For beginners and for professionals alike, I think. Because there are some days — a lot of days, actually — when no matter how many flowing phrases and glittering adjectives you toss onto a page, the words won’t have any passion, zest, or inspiration behind them. This, all writers will agree, is terribly frustrating. Creativity is not a light switch. It does not have an on and an off, and this is infuriating because it basically means that a writer can’t sit down and write a magnificent piece on their own accord. It’s all in the timing, in the inspiration, and a lot of times, the words just don’t manifest themselves on the page as they did in your head. I think you have to learn to let this inspire you to write every day in hopes that TODAY is the day that you write the best story, or article, or poem of your life. Because any day can really be that day. Inspiration is fickle, but it can show up at any moment, truly.
Nonetheless, I am proud to be a writer. Proud to share my own personal truth with the world through the form of the written word. I fell in love with writing mainly because of the fact that, through writing, you can share your ideas with literally anyone that can comprehend the same language as you. It inspires empathy, understanding, and hope. The written word is hope in its purest form, I believe. It’s putting ideas into space and other peoples’ minds, ideas that don’t exist anywhere in a concrete way. It’s the hope that the very things that fill your mind and make you smile or sad or excited or apprehensive can do the very same thing for someone else, someone that maybe you’ve never met before. Maybe you’ll never meet at all, but your words could impact them. Who knows.
So, fellow writers, cheers to us. Cheers to buying stacks and stacks of expensive journals that we don’t really need because we already have five extra blank ones. Cheers to spending hours creating backstories for people that don’t exist anywhere except between the pages of a paperback book. Cheers to chasing inspiration and hope, and cheers to the universes we create. Together, through our words, we can make an impact that is out of this world.
