Driven to Write?

Some of my friends “have to write”. They are driven to write and be creative. I’ve had those feelings, but I get over them. I think I irritated one friend when I said, “I write because I can.” I’ve been blessed with an ability to put words together. It’s been nurtured over the years by some excellent English teachers, the kind that stressed grammar, structure, tenses, plurals and contractions…the basic foundation. Writing daily for more than 30 years helped and there was a writing coach for a few years…great help! I also read about writing. And I’ve read some excellent writers! But truthfully, I find it easy to set down and write out my thoughts. To be sure, I always edit, rewrite, correct and generally “fix” anything I write until it’s what it should be or at least what I want it to be. I’ve run into countless people over the years who claim they can’t write, they “wouldn’t know where to begin,” and are generally “clueless” about putting words to paper. Mostly it’s fear, but they don’t think it’s that. Afterall putting something, anything, down in print leaves you open to criticism. And few people relish that. But without writers where would we be? Writers are the reason we know how and want to read. We read to learn…about new things, lessons, activities, current events or history. There’s a whole new generation of writers now, writing for the Internet, many publishing their own books, blogs, columns. Every day people writing about every day things! They write to make their opinions known. They write to share what they know or in some cases, think they know. And some people write in response to other writers. Everyone has a reason to write, yes, everyone! There is something in your head you need to write down whether it’s your favorite recipe for family dinners or gatherings or maybe it’s your experience in just living. If you’re fortunate to have a good memory, you may need to pass on some of that memory to someone else...you know, so it’s not forgotten. Did you have a special profession or a great work experience or do you want to warn someone not to follow in your footsteps or make similar mistakes in their lives? Regardless of your reasons you have experiences to share, family and life lessons to pass on whether to the next generation or a far future generation you haven’t met yet. What I wouldn’t give to know why and how my great-grandfather built the house he did, where he did and for who, a first wife, the second? Did he do it himself? Did he hire it done? When was the addition built? How did his profession start? Why was there a first wife and then a second? We all have similar questions we wish we could have asked earlier generations. But no one wrote down the answers leaving us to depend on records to fill in information through birth certificates, marriages, deeds, town records. We can provide those answers about us or perhaps even earlier generations to subsequent generations. We can “write it down.’’ I keep trying to remember what I want future generations to know about me and the ancestors I knew. I write long and short stories and put them in a file on my computer and I print them off for a notebook. You may be one of those people who “don’t know where to begin.” Start anywhere. Did you take a trip this year? Did you remember a trip you took with your parents or grandparents? Did you make a memory with someone special this year, or last? Do you have a special memory of a place or person you don’t want forgotten? We all have memories and experiences someone in the future would like to know. You don’t need to write a formal story to be remembered. Write a letter to yourself, to a family member or an imaginary family member in the future. That’s family history, maybe local history, that’s writing it down, you know… so it’s not forgotten.