Why We Write

Last month, I joined a local writer’s group as a way to meet other people in my area. As a rather boring and quiet nerd, I don’t have a lot of options when it comes to socializing, and since moving to another country, going out and doing things has been rather limited.

It’s been a lot of fun getting to know more people and more of the local color in our part of the South Coast, and gives me a sense of roots here I didn’t have before. My accent will always out me as an outsider, but it’s nice to feel included in something local.

Although I’ve been published, and hope to continue this career for the rest of my life, not everyone in my writer’s group wants to be published. Many don’t have any goals past sharing a few stories, or maybe even socializing.

And you know what? That’s okay. Sometimes writers working towards getting published have their eyes so hard on that shiny contract or on the money at the end of the road that they forget there’s another, bigger reason most writers get into writing – to share stories.

To tell something that only they can tell. To create, and express.

I’m not planning on slacking with my writing endeavors at all – there’s going to be a few more goodies coming out this year – but neither do my goals as a professional author detract from my ability to sit and enjoy what other people, many with vastly different life experiences than I, share.

Their stories. Their perspectives.

And what a load of fun it is.