The Desire to Write

November 8, 2006 | Writing

What’s the difference between someone who wants to be writer and a writer?

Obviously, the difference is the writer writes while the person who wants to talks about it. But this question did get me to thinking. How can some of us have the desire to write, but do nothing about it while others have to write with nearly the same need as breathing?

I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met that when they learn I’m a writer tell me that they too have always wanted to write. I ask them why they don’t and they give me their list of excuses. Time being the number one excuse, which irks me to no end. I wrote the first half of Living Lies with a full time job and a new baby. I woke up at five and wrote until seven every morning and then by hand on the commuter train to and from work every day. So no, I don’t have much sympathy for time complaint. The bottom line is if you truly want to write, you’ll write.

The next question I ask is what they would write about. Often they have no idea. This surprises me. For me the desire to write and the idea for a story are so intertwined I couldn’t tell you what drives what. Kind of like the whole chicken and the egg thing. Remember my claim to give up writing a paranormal. That lasted a week until the idea, an idea that wouldn’t leave me alone, came to me. Now I 165 pages in.

That’s not to say there haven’t been times in my life when the desire to write has abandoned me. While I was pregnant I had no interest. (Interesting side note, I also had no desire to read either. Extremely odd for me.) I assumed this was because I felt so lousy, but even after I had DS I had to work at making myself sit in front of the computer or read a book. Eventually, it stopped being work and enjoyed it again.

So what’s my point? If you’re a writer, you’ll have more than the desire to write. You’ll have an idea, usually more than one. You’ll be willing to sacrifice to be able to write. Whether it’s a clean house, television, sleep, ordering dinner instead of cooking (though, to me that’s a sacrifice I could certainly deal with.) only you can decide. But mostly, if you truly have the desire to write, you’ll sit down and write.

Mood: Thoughtful
Music: The Scissor Sisters – I Don’t Feel Like Dancing