I Am A Writer

I am a writer.
Now, you probably think that you understand what that sentence means. For goodness sake, it’s composed of four simple little words. How difficult could it possibly be?
WRONG.
If the word “simple” did happen to cross your mind, erase it. Wad it up and throw it in the trash. There is no such thing as “simple” when it comes to writing.
I am a writer are four words that ought to be spoken with pride and heard with respect. To be a writer is to put life into ink and reality onto pages; to be the creator of a world.
To be a writer is to be the bearer of a story. And that is something honorable.
  To the born writer, writing comes naturally; but that doesn’t mean it’s always easy. Sometimes, you hit a rough patch, and your characters clam up and ignore you. You reach a point where everything seems to come to a standstill, and you have no idea what to do next. This is what most people call Writer’s Block; something dreaded by all writers.
This is where I’ve been for the last few months. And it stinks.
After May 5th, writing suddenly became more difficult. I felt like my writing lost its life and had become boring and dry. I was daunted by the seemingly impossible task of conveying true emotion in these people I had created. How could these feelings be put into words?
Stories continued bouncing around in my head. Characters begged to be brought to life. The urge to write never left me. But when I sat down at my computer and put my fingers to the keys, I had no idea where to begin. How to write what I saw in my mind. How to voice what I felt in my heart. Everything was bottled up inside me, but I didn’t know how to let it out. So I let myself stop writing.
Which was a huge mistake.
I never consciously decided to stop writing. In fact, I had no intention of stopping. But I let myself get discouraged because my work wasn’t what I thought it should be, so I didn’t put in the effort. I didn’t realize how far I’d fallen until a friend of mine brought it up. She encouraged me to keep writing, even if I didn’t think it was good. You can’t let yourself give up.
       I want to encourage you fellow writers out there. Even if you get discouraged, even if you think you’re no good, keep writing. You will never get better if you don’t try. If writing is in your blood, revel in it. Don’t deny who you are because you aren’t perfect.
I am a writer. And I love it with a passion.

Some encouragement for my writer friends...

~Riah