Writers Write

Thinking about why so many of us write.  Wondering if all of us have the same wildly out of control thoughts that just have to be written someplace, even if no one ever sees them, other than the writer.  Some days those thoughts take over my very existence by making me unable to move past them.  Unable to function until they are on paper (or my screen) anywhere except trapped inside my head.  It might be a fictional story that must be written.  It might be an emotion that needs to be explained or explored. It might be something in my past, present or future that needs sorting out.  There are no requirements other than IT MUST GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

Several years ago a very good friend of mine told me in response to my inability to make myself write the next chapter of my then barely started book, "Writers WRITE.  So if you are a writer, sit down and write something.  A sentence, a word or the rest of the book.  Write something.  Everyday.  Clear your head because that is the only way you can get on with your life."

I don't think I have been given better advice ever in my life as far as helping me keep my sanity and keeping me on the path to living in the NOW while striving to just BE who I believe I was meant to be.  He didn't know, I don't think, how inspirational he was to me.  He just knew that I needed to write and he encouraged me by telling me over and over again that people would enjoy perusing the inside of my brain.  He assured me that what I was writing was worth reading to others.  Although at that time, I didn't think I cared if anyone ever read my work, I thought I was writing just for my own mental health.  I now understand that sharing my wandering mind thoughts is really important to the process.

This man also told me, "Writers write and Authors get published.  That's the only difference."  He was internationally published and wrote every day of his much too short and much too painful life.  He made me a writer.  I have written most of my life, but not until I knew Ed Dodge did I become a writer.  He inspired and admired me.  He was my friend and my mentor.  He taught me much about  focus and purpose and he left this earth far too soon.  I am missing him today, as everyday, but today he is filling my head and I HAD TO SHARE.

Think I will go read some of his work now.  I will always have that piece of him to hold.

I hope everyone who takes the time to read this particular blog has someone in their past, present or future that can do for you what this extraordinary man did for this very average, very run of the mill woman.

On my mind and still holding a piece of my heart...George Edward Dodge.


Jo