Time to Write

"You want to be a writer?  Don't know how or when?  Find a quiet place.  Use a humble pen."  Paul Simon

Inspiration comes in many forms.  For me, a simple "When you gonna write something?" can be enough.

I took a break from writing here.  There are many reasons, some rational and some not.  One that I've struggled with is that writing on a blog is somehow illegitimate--if it's not "published" writing (as in in a newspaper column, magazine, or book) then it's not worthy and not worth the effort.

I've decided to reject that notion.  I reject it because a few of you have been kind enough to read these rambling essays, this "blog about nothing in particular."  And you've been especially kind to let me know you've liked some of it.

There are over 300,000 books published in the U.S. each year.  The odds that one will be mine are low.

But the truth about writers, at least as I see it, is that writers have to write.  It is a lonely and solitary pursuit that requires nothing more than parking your backside in a chair for a substantial amount of time, trying to say something you want to say and trying to get it right.  And believe me, the latter is more important  to me.  But you can't have one without the other, and that's where the water gets deep.

So I'll keep trying, writing short stories and themed essays and magazine articles, even an occasional poem or country music song that will never show up here.  But there are enough words left over that can show up here, and I hope you and I will enjoy the result.

If so, let me know now and then.  If not, that OK too, because a writer has to write.