You Don't Get to Choose Whether You're a Writer

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In this month's Glimmer Train bulletin, there's a lovely piece by Kathryne Young called "On
Writing, Not Writing, and the Writing Life."




Here's a brief snippet:

Joan Didion writes, "The impulse to write things
down is a peculiarly compulsive one, inexplicable to those who do not share it, useful
only accidentally, only secondarily, in the way that any compulsion tries to justify
itself."




My mother told me something similar when I was young: you don't get to choose whether
you're a writer; your only choice is whether to be a writer who writes or a writer
who doesn't. What she didn't tell me then, though I'm certain she knew, is that if
you're a writer and you're not writing, you will never quite be happy.

Go read the full
essay here.




Or go straight to the entire Glimmer Train bulletin!

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