Why I write... how you can, too

My brain goes dead, and I can't think of anything to write about. I start to write a blog and within a few minutes, I have a blob. Writing can be painful... so why do it?

Well, pull out a white sheet of paper and pick up a, you true old-fashioned fountain pen. Feel the smooth, cool metal against your fingers. Or, open a new file on your laptop with a new white page staring at you, and put your fingers on the keys, ready to type that first word. Either method works. Just write that first word. Congratulations, you've taken the first step to being a writer.

Why do I write? I write to inform, to make others feel better, to teach; I write as a catharsis, because it provides a way to know what I'm thinking, to make people laugh or think, or maybe even to cry. Just to put the words in your head down where you can see the can help solve a problem, or at least know what the problem is.

Writing is like music. It has its own rhythm, and once you start writing or typing, one word just naturally follow the other, rolling out of your head almost faster than you can catch them.

Anyone can write, and everyone should. But here's a little secret I learned while studying how to teach children to write. Have you ever noticed how even babies want to write on a new piece of paper. This continues right on up to entrance into school. Then, have you noticed how a child in kindergarten or first grade gets so excited about his or her Big Chief tablet and No. 2 pencil, all ready to put all those things running through little minds down on paper.

After a little while of learning letters and numbers, and learning to spell a few words by sight, they finally are turned loose to write a story. Excitement bubbles through little minds until they almost can't stand it. Now they can tell their own stories.

Have you ever noticed when they bring those first papers home the big red circles around places where punctuation is misplaced or missing altogether, and misspelled words have more bright red circles around them. And have you noticed that pretty soon, when the child begins to write, instead of letting his imagination go and just writing as the words come out, he stops and asks, "Mom, does a comma go here?" "How to you spell...?" And all spontaneity is gone. Another writer is soon discouraged, and then lost.

When our granddaughter was 5 or 6, she started wanting to write. I was livid when I saw red marks on her papers. So I bought her a journal on the condition she write every day, She loved it, but every so often she would stop and say, "Mimi, does a comma go here," or "Did I spell this right?" I said "You just write what you want to say without worrying about commas or spelling. You're going to learn all that in due time, but right now, just for Mimi, I just want you to write in your 6-year-old voice."

She may not be a writer today, but she's 26 years old and she knows how to write just fine. She's a wife, mother of 19-month-old twins, works and is working her way through college, making great grades.

Write to get the words out, to put the thoughts on paper where you can see what you're thinking. Write to see what word is going to be next and see what it looks like when you finish. Let someone else read it, and if you are comfortable, ask them to critique it. Who knows you may write the next best seller. Then again, maybe not, but who cares. It's great therapy. Try it; you may just find a talent you didn't know you had. Whatever you do, I wish you the best of luck. Now... go write something.