Writing

Anis Nin said writing was like breathing. For me, it's the same. I cannot go a day without writing, just as people cannot go without breathing.

When I was young, I would write for myself. Poems, songs I didn't have music for, stories, letters, journal entries. Every day I still write-- it's what I do for a living. But somedays, it feels like I am not writing for myself. Rather, I am writing for my audience -- writing what I think something should sound like.

I have to stop writing for other people. Journalism is about telling stories, real people's stories. But in that, I have to remember that first and foremost I am writing it for myself. If it's not interesting to me I shouldn't be writing it.

My need to not sound stupid or immature or pompous or redundant gets in the way of the kid who used to just write in her journal knowing if someone read it she wouldn't mind, because at least she liked it.

I have to shut the critic off and let the words come out of me like the air I breathe.

So what if this is corny? So what if someone laughs while reading it. At least I like it, and it's what came out.