I Love To Write. How About You?

I never dreamed of being a writer. I never read the great works of literature. My university curriculum allowed me to skip English courses altogether.

The truth is, I’m an unlikely writer.

I was still working in tech when I decided to write a personal story. I typed the draft on a borrowed Mac. I felt proud. But the writing was atrocious. I stuffed the manuscript in a drawer, and went back to coding software.

If you asked me why I write, I’d be hard pressed to give you a meaningful reply. I could list a dozen perfectly fine reasons why writers write, but they aren’t my reasons. “The role of a writer is not to say what we can all say, but what we are unable to say,” wrote Anaïs Nin. I try to remember that quote every time I sit down to write.

Jobs were easier to get back then, and in time my technical skills landed me gainful employment as a tech writer. I went back to school and caught up on those missing English courses.

I’m a left-brain person working in a right-brain trade. My words tumble clumsily from my head onto the page. I rewrite and edit obsessively. Creative writing, the latest seismic shift in my career, is a challenge.

When I first started to write, I couldn’t rub two vowels together. I had to learn about punctuation and grammar and verbs. “Verbs are your friend” — I read that somewhere. It’s true!

My favorite grammar book is Strunk and White’s The Element of Style. I also like The Transitive Vampire: A Handbook of Grammar for the Innocent, the Eager, and the Doomed, by Karen Elizabeth Gordon. William Safire called it “a book to sink your fangs into.”

I have studied my craft mainly through reading. Early on, I read mysteries — Robert B. Parker and Lawrence Block were my mentors. Nowadays, I read mostly memoirs. My favorite authors are Ruth Reichl, Alice Steinbach, Diana Athill, and Delia Ephron. If you haven’t read Diana Athill’s memoir Stet: An Editor’s Life, you’re missing out on something great.

Really, it doesn’t matter what books you read. Every book has value. Every book holds the power to teach you how to write. Read as much as you can, and you’ll be fine.

I write to survive. I write to hear myself think. I write to say what I am unable to speak. I write to express my sadness and my love; to live in the moment; to reflect on the past. I write to be someone else, someone better. I write because I want to be remembered.

I hope you love to write, too.

Originally published on LinkedIn.