Why You Should Write

You should write for... let me tell you a story. Maya Angelou writes in Letters to my Daughter about coming to the end of her rope raising her young son. Standing in her mother's house, where she lived, she felt an urge to harm baby Guy. Handing him to her mother, she rushed out the door, seeking help at a clinic where a psychiatrist sat her down and patiently questioned her. Knowing it felt wrong, she left. She went to her dance studio, pouring her heart out to an older teacher, a man.

He gave her a pen, a pad of legal paper and told her to start writing. Never mind that this was a woman who would become one of the greatest writers in American history, this is how, as a single mother, she learned to handle her problems. As she wrote, the swirling emotions in her head became real, solid complications and challenges. By telling her story she untangled her emotions, seeing steps she could take to help herself.

When my beautiful friend Barb died on her 44th birthday, I had already spent lots of time writing about her battle with cancer, my worries for her children and husband. I didn't show it to a single person and yet it was probably, besides my teenaged journals, the most important writing I have ever done.

Writing a book isn't therapy. It's an public endeavor which people undertake for many different reasons. Writing a journal entry is a gift to yourself. You get out of it what you put in. Try it.