Writing = Inspiration

"The impulse to write things down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify itself.

"My mother told me something similar when I was young: you don't get to choose whether you're a writer; your only choice is whether to be a writer who writes or a writer who doesn't. What she didn't tell me then, though I'm certain she knew, is that if you're a writer and you're not writing, you will never quite be happy."--Joan Didion

I've been a writer for as long as I can remember.  It started with poetry and then on to stories.  As a teen, I wrote constantly.  I recorded my thoughts and wrote poems about anything.  It truly was a compulsion.
Then, I went years without writing.  Years.  I was a young mother, busily nursing, diapering, and running around after my kids.  Occasionally I would toss out a poem, but never much.  Admittedly, I didn't have the venue of a blog back then.  My only source for expressing myself was a journal and I'm embarrassed to say I rarely opened it.   But, the compulsion to write never really goes away.  I always had it in my head that someday, some way, I would write again.

Writing is therapy.  It's cathartic.  It's my drug of choice. Honestly, it makes me giddy when I've finished an essay or post.  I can stew for days about a certain subject and when I finally get the words out, it's a high. ( Getting comments is the bonus.  It's a tricky thing, sharing what you've written.  Hopeful that it might mean to others even a fraction of what it means to you. )


But, what I love most about writing is the creative process.  There's a quote from the movie 'Inception' that sums it up-
"Imagine you're designing a building, you're creating each aspect. But, sometimes it's like it's almost creating itself.
-Yeah, like I'm discovering it.
Genuine inspiration, right?"


That's how it feels sometimes when I'm writing.  Like the story has already been written and I'm just the medium putting the words together. It's an amazing feeling, creating something.  Taking bits of matter, in this case words, and structuring them, placing them, ever so carefully arranging them to form something new and beautiful.  It's what we're meant to do.  It's part of our eternal heritage.  We are children of the greatest Creator and every time we follow in His footsteps, we come closer to Him. He provides the inspiration, and if we use it to make something new, we are becoming who we're supposed to be. This kind of creating reminds me that writing is a gift, one heavenly bestowed, not to be neglected, but shared.  Without it, my life is less meaningful, with it, I am happy.