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Writing: Love It or Hate It?

Writing is:

• A clandestine love affair
• An approach-avoidance relationship
• A black hole
• An elusive butterfly
• Giving birth
• Filling the well
• Creating a rainbow
• Completing the unfinished
• Wisps of smoke
• A pact with the devil (or an angel)
• Building a sandcastle
• Reviving the dead
• Walking in someone else’s moccasins
• Joy
• Despair
• Hate
• Love

What does writing mean to you?

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A native Montanan, Heidi M. Thomas now lives in Northwest Washington. Her first novel, Cowgirl Dreams, is based on her grandmother, and the sequel, Follow the Dream, has recently won the national WILLA Award. Heidi has a degree in journalism, a certificate in fiction writing, and is a member of Northwest Independent Editors Guild. She teaches writing and edits, blogs, and is working on the next books in her “Dare to Dream” series.

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Comments

  1. It does remind one, on occasion, of a pact with the devil! But to write that perfect sentence, or that perfect paragraph. Ah!

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  2. Of those, I would choose: Building a sandcastle. It's fun, but not easy. You have to build carefully, adding in structure and support where necessary, and if it crashes down, you rebuild.

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  3. Looking in the mirror.

    The reader (and the writer) must relate to the characters - their feelings, circumstances, strengths and weaknesses, victories and defeats, challenges, outcomes, etc.

    Very thought-provoking post, Heidi.

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  4. OMG, what great ways to look at writing! Must think about it. For me, it probably depends on the kind of writing, or the moment in time.

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  5. Love the list and agree with Karen that to write that perfect paragraph or scene is an incredible high.

    For me right now, I would add to the list, writing is an exercise in discipline.

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  6. Heidi, this is like a poem! Well done. A lot to think about here. To me, writing is all this, plus the opportunity to explore thoroughly, perhaps influence, and find meaning in one small aspect of life.

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  7. Thanks to all for your comments. This is a fun way to think of our passion, muse, or work.

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  8. Writing is my obsession!

    Morgan Mandel
    http://morganmanddel.blogspot.com

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  9. I so wish it were an obsession, a passion! Every step of the process. It's a tool for me, and I have way too many unfinished projects right now. So writing is for me, a job to finish. I wish I loved it like chocolate though.

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  10. Writing is so many things, as you've so cleverly pointed out, and for me it would have to that writing is an addiction. I can't live without it!

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  11. A visual representation of the amalgam between mind and spirit.

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  12. Writing is an expression of hope, a cry of pain, a gasp of fear, a journal of events, a report of incidents. It's a legacy that leaves an intimate part of a writer behind for posterity.

    For the writer - at least for me - it fulfills a compelling need to create. I love to sing and want to compose beautiful music, but nobody loves to hear me sing - and my piano playing isn't even worth mentioning. (My son, however, is a composer who will soon put out his first CD.) I envision gorgeous landscapes in my mind, but my hands refuse to commit them to paper in a recognizable form. (My granddaughter and grandson are fabulous artists.) I long to inspire others, but I stutter and stammer as the right words refuse to come out, especially in front of a group. (Many of my friends are eloquent speakers.)

    Yet my characters can do all these things. Their beautiful voices can shatter crystal goblets and soar flawlessly across several octaves. They can portray on paper the most intricate and exquisite scenes. They can inspire one or many with the the healing balm of the right words at the right time. And as their creator, I can do it with them - albeit vicariously.

    What is writing to me? It's the fulfillment of dreams, the sharing of beauties otherwise unexpressed, the touching of hearts. And, yes, Dani, it's an obsession - a magnificent obsession that I'm so grateful to possess and so humbled by its power. It is a gift to use wisely, lest that power harm rather than help.

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  13. Writing is as necessary as breathing.
    Something to procrastinate
    The most satisfying thing I do
    Humbling, humiliating and hard
    ectasy, easy and entertaining
    Everything.

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  14. Writing is therapeutic. A release of thoughts on paper.

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  15. Heidi, this is like a poem! Well done. A lot to think about here. To me, writing is all this, plus the opportunity to explore thoroughly, perhaps influence, and find meaning in one small aspect of life.

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