Writing Is Like Love

Love heart uidaodjsdsew (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Sometimes writing gives me the greatest feeling in the world. Everything makes sense, anything is possible. Looking at your WIP is like looking in a mirror that clearly reflects your intentions. Writing is effortless and time flies by. You are happy and energized. The world is a wonderful place. These feelings are very like the best moments of love, when everything is “right”.

Love answers some deeply personal needs. Why do you write? Probably because it fills other (or some of the same) needs. I write to express myself, to communicate, to think things through to the end, to create something. These needs may not be necessary for basic survival the way food and water are. But writing provides an outlet and a means for personal completion. Writing is my tether to other people. To keep it, I make a commitment to stay with it when things get tough.

How do you feel when life grows difficult? Sometimes writing is an effort, a struggle, a pain, and an inconvenience. Loving relationships can be that way, too. You write anyway. You write because you know the bad times can be overcome or endured. Writing helps you overcome or endure. It is your tether, your life-line, your reminder. You honor your commitment.

Like love, writing contains good and bad. Most people's relationships with writing start shallow but deepen with time – if they keep at it. I think everyone starts with an idealized view of writing. Time shows other sides. Every person reaches a point of decision: to commit or not commit. There are many types of commitment: the two-timer, the flirt, the steady. And the level of commitment can change with time. The nature of your relationship with writing changes with time. You change and your writing changes with you. Maybe you go separate ways. Maybe you live happily ever after.