Chuck Wendig’s FLASH FICTION WRITING CHALLENGE: WHY I WRITE
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As long as I can remember, I loved putting words to paper, expanding on the great mysteries or the miseries of my young life. It was a way to get my point across without being shushed.
Introduction to the magic of words came early for me, as my mother was a voracious reader. She belonged to more than one book-of-the-month-club and even as young children, we were fortunate she passed the books to us, without censorship.
In between those many pages, I met a world of different people. Their words painted vivid pictures, and gave breath to the hopes, fears, and dreams of a girl. In spite of her love of the written word, my mom repeatedly warned me, “Don’t ever put anything in writing, you don’t want others to see.” Perhaps mom’s voice was the words from her books.
It would come later as a young, naïve girl before I understood the damage others could do when words are misconstrued, distorted, taken out of context or endure the deep cut of betrayal. I learned the hard way and, after that, hid my words away.
I’m an average woman, professional in background, a mother, grandmother, wife, friend, and a writer. I write now because I have a voice, and I can.
- I write for catharsis, a purging of past sins, regrets, hopes, and dreams.
- I write to share what knowledge and experiences I’ve acquired with those I love, hopeful they’ll be spared a wrong turn or learn the joy of sunny days.
- I write to voice my opinion, my values, the very things I believe make the world, and us better people.
- I write not that, in the end, my singular voice matters more than others do, or will move mountains, but perhaps, it will become one of many and create a chorus of positive change.
- I write to expand my imagination and free my demons; we all have them.
- I write to bring pleasure and encourage others to stretch their word wings, tell stories, real or imagined.
- I write to leave a legacy to those I leave behind. Egotistical perhaps, but I want to surprise them. “That was mom? Sheila? She did that?” I don’t want to be forgotten or remembered only in faded photos or as the name on a bronze marker.
I write because I believe words have power. The power to move people, change them and change the world. After years of writing by a stream in a cow pasture, hiding my words from the world, between the pages of a worn-down journal, I have found my voice and so I write.
Filed under: Essays, Prompt, Prompts, Writing Tagged: #amwriting, #flashfiction, #WhyIwrite #challenge #Terribleminds, @ChuckWendig, Focus on writing, Prompts, Words Matter, Writer
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