On Writing...

Writing is scary. Not the actual act of writing itself, but the decision to write, to do something with it, to make it something. To be a writer. All of a sudden, there is so much to think about - an idea isn't enough. It needs to be broken down, examined, expanded. It's difficult to know where to begin.
They say to write what you know (Who are 'they' anyway?) What do I know? What can I tell that would make a piece of writing you would be interested in reading? And if I do know something others would like to hear, can I tell it? Do I know enough about the actual art of writing - the craft, the creativity, the structure? It's funny - I teach writing every day to ten-year-old kids. I tell them what they are doing well, and where they should go from there. But where does my knowledge come from? I never had a 'writing' class. No one ever taught me what needs to be present in good writing. Many teachers have told me I am a gifted writer, but there was never any basis for that praise.
But the feeling of writing...the satisfaction when I read something I've written and been proud that I wrote it...I love that feeling! I want to write. I'm not sure what yet, but I want to write. I want to catch other people up in my words, the way I've been caught up in the words of so many others. I want to give others that feeling. I want to be a writer.