I Am A Writer

During the next three weeks I am excited to participate in a writing challenge. Not sure yet exactly what I'm going to be asked to do as part of this exercise, except maybe to write.

Today's challenge was to make the declaration, "I am a writer." So, here it is:

I am a writer!

Want to have a little fun with me? You'll notice the title of the challenge is "15 Habits of Great Writers." Well, one of my habits when I write is research. I like definitions and examples. What exactly IS a writer? I went straight to my trusty dictionary. Yup - the hard cover one with loads and loads of pages inside. It smells like the books in the library my mom used to take me to when I was little.

I sort of didn't like that the definition for writer was sandwiched between 

write-off , writer's cramp, and writhe. 

But, hey, it comes with the territory, right?

Next stop in my research was the scrapbook my mom made for me several years ago. In it I found some of my early work.

Circa 1965. Guess I would have been about 4 and a half at the time.

There was a piece of fiction....

...and poetry, which made up a large part of my writing. This piece I remember distinctly because my fifth grade teacher hung it on the bulletin board outside our classroom door. Misspellings and all. Such an honor! (This occurred in a era when you could talk about Jesus in public school without getting into trouble.)

As I grew and continued writing, my teachers encouraged me.

To this date I have written and written and written. I have boxes of journals and scores of poems. There were the two "novels" I wrote in junior high on Big Chief tablets, my way of expressing the secret crush I had on a boy who shall remain nameless. The only people I let read them were my favorite English teacher and a couple best friends. I've written lyrics, Bible studies, scripts, devotions, stories, articles, letters.

Just like the rest of you who, like me, are writers.

We are writers.