Wanting to Write

Many of us want to write. The great American novel is in our heads and we can't wait to lay it all out on our computer screen. We visualize it as a thick book with a snappy cover and a snappier title, but when we sit down to the computer, the novel we stored so carefully in our minds dissipates, a flimsy curtain of smoke rising to unknown heights until there's nothing left except a headache and a deep disappointment in our hearts.


Some, however, can actually sit down with pen in hand, typewriter or computer in front of them and formulate a story or an idea until eventually a pile of papers emerge. Of course, getting those papers sold is an entirely different effort, but at least a book has been created. Danielle Steel once said in an interview that when she gets an idea for a book she holes up for a few days until it's finished. A few days. Not many of us can do that. Other authors have to spend weeks, months and sometimes years on a manuscript before it's ready to hit the printer.

The important thing about wanting to write is that we write. We just sit down and start writing out our thoughts. They may not get published, they may not even make it to the printer, but at least they're out in the open for us to see. That may be the most important part of wanting to write anyway: getting our thoughts out so we can take a look at them.