One year for Christmas, I got a copy of "Charlotte's Web" and a pad of light blue 3-hole punched paper. I proceeded to copy the first chapter of "Charlotte's Web" on the paper. Thus began a long love affair with words (or for the cynical, plagiarism) that continues to this day.
I've wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. I had other childhood career aspirations, including veterinarian, fireman, teacher...but the writing thing just stuck. Eventually, I learned that being a writer isn't something you become. It's something you ARE.
Today, I own a photo/video studio, and I create images for a living. I love what I do. I love my clients. It brings me great joy and satisfaction to start with a blank photographic canvas and create something memorable that people will enjoy for the rest of their lives. I will do this until I can no longer press a shutter with arthritic fingers or view the image through a lens with failing eyesight. Even then, I'll probably find a way.
What I've given up to follow this passion is my desire to write. Lately, the itch has come back. I was able to find a couple outlets and was published for the first time in years, even if it was just in the local paper. But now, with the newspaper downsizing and production being taken out of town, that outlet is gone. Opportunities are few and far between in a small town and frankly, I haven't had (or taken) the time to investigate new markets.
But I keep writing anyway. Because as Billy Crystal intoned in the otherwise horrible "Throw Mama From The Train", a writer writes. Always.
A couple weeks ago, I misplaced my glasses. Once necessary only to keep horrific eyestrain headaches at bay, they've become essential for close reading. Briefly, my love affair with the printed word suffered while I was unable to read the small print in the books I love so much. It friggin' sucks to get old. Last night, I found the elusive spectacles (they were behind the couch the whole time! That's where EVERYTHING hides!), and I took a deep dive back in my books the way a starving person attacks a plate of hamburgers.
I loves me some words, folks. I realize more and more that I have a lot to say, a lot I want to share, and a lot to contribute. The pictures pay the bills, and in a way they communicate in ways words never can. But I miss the written word, and I think it's time to rekindle that love affair.
Anyway. That's what's on my mind. Hope y'all are doing well. Thanks for reading.
The Written Word's been cheating on you.
ReplyDeleteI wanted to be a cowboy astronaut myself.
ReplyDeleteSo, does this mean that you've turned a corner? Because that whole angsty writer thing was just not working for you. And I'm beginning to think you have a thing for Billy Crystal. ;-)
ReplyDeleteüber: I'll forgive her. I always do.
ReplyDeleteGrant: My dream job is "Swimsuit Model Suntan Oil Application Specialist".
TBS: Billy Crystal? *shudder* Not even close.
Just go on with your bad self and write those words! WRITE THEM DAMMIT!
ReplyDeleteI wanted to be an obstetrician when I was a kid. Then my parents allowed me to watch the video of my sister giving birth to my nephew. Grossest thing I'd ever seen.
April: I wanted to be a veterinarian until I watched a vet "turn" a baby calf...with his arm inserted in the cow all the way to the shoulder.
ReplyDeleteThat fixed it right there.
I hope that when you finally publish something that you've poured your heart into, someone latches on to it and promotes the living snot out of it, and it sells. Otherwise, Billy Crystal can take a flying leap. If you're a writer who writes and nobody reads, you give up.
ReplyDeleteHave you considered wearing your glasses around your neck, putting your wallet on a chain and attaching your cell phone to your hip with Velcro?
ReplyDeleteJust kidding....sort of. LOL
just: I recently saw a profile of Stephen King on the Biography channel that I now wish I hadn't erased from the DVR. If you want a lesson in persistence, that provided one. He wrote for years before he finally sold anything that "stuck", and he was flat-broke for most of them. What's that phrase? Winners never quit and quitters never win.
ReplyDeleteed: I've thought about it, but then I'd be a lot less charming. :-)