Saturday, October 17, 2015

October 17: Writing Prompt #290-Community Service

Your entire community — however you define that; your hometown, your neighborhood, your family, your colleagues — is guaranteed to read your blog tomorrow. Write the post you’d like them all to see.

What does it mean to really be a writer?  Do those of us who truly LOVE to write with a passion do it for fame and fortune? Do we write to be recognized by our communities and our world?  I don’t think so.  We write because we need to. There are so many words spilling over inside of us that we have to find a way to release them, and it doesn’t matter who reads them because it’s not really for anyone else.  It’s for us. If someone learns from or benefits from our prose in one way or another, that’s icing on the cake, but it’s not the goal.  I have never had any widespread recognition for what I write, but I still write. Why?  Because from the first day my 6th grade teacher assigned journal writing to us, and I put pen to paper, I have never been able to stop.  It’s cathartic for me.  It is a way of processing my world.  It’s therapy and how I cope with life.  It’s my way of problem solving. I start with the negative and end with the positive, every time!! It’s just the way it works for me.  Writing it out brings me back to my center when I am off kilter.  And it doesn’t have to be just writing on my blog or in my personal journal. It can be anything to do with writing.  Writing books with young people, editing someone else’s writing, or teaching writing. It’s all just as fulfilling for me because when I can share this unusual, but very effective form of therapy with others, it fulfills me as well. 

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