WHY WE WRITE

Why do we write? Is it to tell a story? A way of regurgitating all of our compressed thoughts of our accomplishments and struggles onto paper because that is so much easier than actually talking to someone. Perhaps we do it as a way to keep the nostalgia of words alive, which at times we (as writers) feel they have been lost to the digital world, where complete sentences and the use of proper punctuation has been traded for hashtags and memes? We are all writers, for we all have stories to tell, at least of our own experiences.

I am not here to form conclusions as to why people write or don’t – frankly, I don’t care. I care that I am FINALLY, at 38 years old, taking a chance on (what I hope) will be a career of passion, expressed through writing. That’s right, I am not 21, and talking about the start of my career and my dreams of being some famous writer. The reality is, I am a 38-year-old, divorced, single mother, who has – admittedly by some of my own doing, both failed and succeeded at many jobs, with many companies. With that being said, I believe that I am more of the rule than the exception.

Here I am at a career crossroads since departing my last position; do I continue down the road in an industry I have been part of for 15 years and use my marketing expertise to get me through to retirement, with the hopes that I will stay with a company for more than a year? Let me be clear, I am not proud of the job jumping my resume may indicate. But I am proud that I have risen every time I fell. This is just another one of those times and I have a choice – stay the path I have always been, or follow my passion?

There is no easy answer. This is also not some crusade I am out on without any professional experience. I have years of writing experience and that did not stem from my choosing. I naturally evolved into a writer through previous supervisors recognizing my ability to somehow manipulate the English language and string the appropriate words together that draw people in. To all those that pushed me that way, thank you. I’ve always had a love for communication, which has been expressed through my writing. Do I know where that love began? No, but I think a good starting point is to attribute it to my English 12 teacher at Immaculata High School in Kelowna, BC. Long story short, I do have a double major in Marketing and English, with an emphasis in Creative Writing, and by the chance of my lucky stars aligning, I have been presented with opportunities from the beginning that propelled my career.

I have many people and situations to thank for my dream to pursue a writing career – most not being filled with rainbows and sunshine. From writing notes in Science class and folding them into little triangles only to pass them without getting caught (a concept today’s youth have no understanding of), to having my first penpal, and to getting my first email address and sending virtual mail, the desire to write has always been there. Perhaps the youth of this generation will have writing careers that grow out of their love for short SnapChats or sliding into people’s DM’s – just as our generation's appreciation for writing may have flourished from ICQ or MSN chat after connecting to the internet to the rather loud and arduous dialing of a phone line, only to hope our parents didn’t pick up and disconnect it. As I ramble on here, I am realizing that Bumble and Tinder, may not be the innovators of online dating and connecting people. I clearly remember being the driver for one of my best friends (still) to meet a guy at the local arcade after they had chatted on ICQ. Perhaps they shaped my love for writing as I may have subconsciously realized the power of words to bring perfect strangers together.

On that note, I am comfortable in saying that I write, because I enjoy it, and I’m pretty decent at it. I love pulling people into a piece that can either inform them or simply let them escape for a while. I/we write to share our stories or to be part of something. When people say they can’t write, I call BS (oops) – if you can tell a story, you can write. Now, editing, that’s a different beast on its own.

Why am I here now, on April 8, 2021, finally writing? The truth, I got tired of corporate bureaucracies and constantly being told to do this, do that, let us strip you of your creativity and force you into being a “yes” person. I say, no thank you to that as I realized I was just a prostitute for the corporate world – I would go in, do a job and collect money for it. Okay, reading that back, it sounds a little hasty, not my intention. I have had some incredible jobs that took me all over the place, helped grow my network, and learned some amazing skills while working for some very inspiring people. I’ve also had some crap jobs, with some really poor leaders (who I’m convinced, shouldn’t even be called leaders). Through it all, I remained hopeful as every position I took, showed infinite opportunity – until it didn’t. To sum it up, I am here out of survival. (A) go back to the 9-5 job and slowly suffocate or (B) fuel my career with my passions for writing and helping people. Ding ding, I choose B. Or a combination of the two – but under very strict development of self-awareness, guided by my desire to help tell stories and grow business for companies and people I believe in.

I am not one to give unsolicited advice, but I will say this – keep your eyes and mind open, you never know when someone or an opportunity will walk into your life and change it forever. Do not have your head so buried in your desk that you can’t see it. I could write a rather extensive list of all the people who have helped me get to where I am, both good and bad – what I want to be and most definitely what I don’t want to be.

This piece is not titled, “Why I Write?” It’s, “Why WE Write?” Most of you will say that you don’t, to that I say, why not? Write, write, and write some more, for one day, it may be the only thing people have to remember you by. I wrote this as more of an anecdote, to give everyone something to think about. Give it a try, you might not be too bad at it. Plus, we fellow writers could sure use some help in this crazy digital world where archaic words are merging with digital and creating more acronyms than we know what to do with, i.e. SEO and SEM. Are you ready? Let me help…

You got this. Start with.

"Today I want to tell my story…"