Wednesday, July 6, 2016

Why do you write?

Welcome.  With the launch of my new publishing company, it seemed appropriate to start a blog that focused on writing.

Although I have four books under my belt, it wasn’t until I wrote the third one that I started to consider myself a writer.  Funny that.  I was also hesitant to introduce myself as a writer as I wasn’t sure I’d won that stripe yet.

Writing is such a personal craft.  Often we start writing just for ourselves. I find writing is my way of sorting out the mixed emotions I feel inside but sharing your innermost thoughts with the world makes you feel vulnerable and I don’t always take that risk. There’s many a blog that I’ve written in anger that will never see the light of day.  Just getting the words out and down on paper was my therapy.

But just sending your words out into the universe can be a brave act.  After all what if no one likes what you have to say. Worse, what if no one even reads your epistles.

I have to say when I started blogging over eleven years ago, I didn’t actually care if I had an audience, I was just enjoying the excuse to write and post what I had to say or my thoughts on a specific topic.

It was later that I began to realize that I maybe had some wisdom to impart and that perhaps my words would bring comfort or understanding to someone else.  As I became more immersed in the world of entrepreneurship, I also started to share my thoughts on running a small business, something I was doing at the time with an element of success.

Why do you write?  I am sure it is different for all of us. And there’s different types of writing too.   When I worked as a consultant I used to write long, long reports that I questioned if anyone read, let alone followed my recommendations.  And when I was in government, it was briefing notes to politicians that would be written and re-written to ensure we had covered the essentials as well as our backs.

Today I like to share people’s stories.  I love interviewing people and helping them articulate their innermost thoughts and share them with the world.   I also love helping other writers weave their books into something that people not only want to read but enjoy.

In the months ahead I will be sharing different ways to entice and hold your readers’ interest and looking at the specific tasks in writing your book. 

Meantime, back to my original question --- why do you write?  Let me know.


3 comments:

  1. Why do I write? I am in the early stages. Turns out words are really important to me. It's also helping sort out thoughts and feelings and similar to you, I am hoping mine will resonate with someone and help them along their journey. Thanks for sharing Anne :)

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  2. At present, I write to share my knowledge and hope that it will help or inspire others.

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  3. I have been writing in a journal once again since this past January. The writing has helped me in my recovery from breast cancer treatments. It helps me to process what I am experiencing. It has also helped me to imagine new possibilities for my life going forward from this health wake up call. The more I write, the more designs for my rug hooking have been flowing. The writing and the rug hooking seem to go hand in hand. I've been writing and designing and hooking a line of mats I call my Healing Mats. They are about the dragonfly qualities that we draw on to heal - joy, adaptability, transformation and digging deeper into the emotions. Congratulations Anne on establishing your publishing company. Warmly, Meryl Cook

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