What Makes A Writer Write?

If I had to try and answer what my motivation to write is and how I got started, I believe the answer would truthfully be one and the same. I started writing over 30 years ago as a way of "purging" my system. My internal and emotional "system" that is. Writing does now, and always has provided a way for me to maintain my sanity and stay focused. I can honestly say that writing has been a lifesaver for me. So why do I write, or better yet, why do writers write?  For those, like myself, who come from hard backgrounds and have used writing for therapeutic purposes, we write because if we don't, we die!

I didn't grow up in the best of neighborhoods or in the best of homes or even in the best of families. As a matte of fact, the families I did ultimately end up "growing up" in were not even mine. I also use the term "growing up" loosely, because as far back as I can remember, my mind has worked like that of an adult. I was always a deep thinker and in order to adapt to the negative surroundings that I always happened to be in (through no fault of my own), I would retreat into my imagination.

So I wrote stories and poems from the time I was a child, in order to escape the dreary reality that was much less colorful than in my mind. As I got older, I traded the fictional stories for journaling. I found it to be the best way possible to release all the unhappiness, all the anger, all the discomfort and anything else that plagued my adolescent and young adult mind.  In high school I wrote great papers and essays and even made some cash writing for other students (no not cheating!  I like to think of it as having been a freelance writer at an early age).

A WRITER IS FINALLY BORN

It wasn't until long after high school, one marriage, one kid, one divorce and damn near one breakdown, that I was ready to take myself serious as a writer and return to school to pursue a journalism degree. It was actually funny because I had been writing all my life and I never even realized how much I loved it, or that I was actually good at it. It took a series of formal writing classes, creative writing courses and attending writing seminars to truly convince me that maybe I had what it takes to be a writer. I only wish I had known then what kind of writer I aspired to be. I could have been more focused with my journalism courses and possibly have obtained my degree by now!

I struggled throughout the years with the writer on the inside, versus the "practical" person on the outside, Life would not allow me to indulge such fantasies of being a writer for a living. All the "normal" stuff crowded those thoughts out and shoved them way in the back of my mind and even deeper into my heart.

It's funny how sometimes it doesn't really take much of anything at all to make you just stop and say: "NO, I'm not doing things this way anymore. I think I'll do them this way instead." I feel like that is literally what happened. I was between jobs, and one evening I was pouring over Caljobs (employment website) and craigslist classifed ad postings, for clerical jobs that were related to my field.  After reading a gazillion ads I just blurted out: NO! This is not what I want to continue doing!

I'd already resolved within myself years ago earlier that I AM TRULY A WRITER. I may not have always been as active as I could have and I certainly wasn't getting paid much  to speak of with my writing (except a few gigs here and there), but I had enough of my work published both online and off, to finally justify calling myself a writer, at least to myself. Once I had come to that realization, I held on to it tightly and in spite of some years of inactivity, I never let go of that fact. But everything I had ever learned about writing told me that WRITERS actually WRITE!  (Hmmm! That could be a problem.)

ADOPTING A NEW FORM OF WRITING

When I "seriously" began writing and internet marketing this year, I was very excited.  I knew I alwasy had a knack for writing ad copy, so the text I began writing for my affiliate marketing programs kept me on my toes. I set my affairs in order so I could take a whole year off from conventional work, and try to make a go of my writing and marketing career (The tradeoff is acceting responsibility for the care and mentoring of my six-year-old niece, in exchange for room and board and regular housework in my sister's home).  I've also opted to take advantage of returning to school again, to try and complete my degree.  Between my unemployment and my online writing activities, I am managing to get by, but I truly live the life of a starving writing (well maybe not starving).

The online marketing that I embarked on in January 2009 is what pulled my knee deep into writing online again. Since then, I have learned a whole lot about writing and marketing your writing online. I have created a number of related articles (SEE BELOW), based on the tons of resources I've read and the different methods and strategies I have tried.

I now get paid with my writing on a regular basis because I engage in different types of writing activities as a way to earn. I haven't made a whole lot of money yet, because unfortunately, while I'm a pretty damn good writer, especially when it comes to internet marketing, and explaining certain concepts, I don't always take my own advice and stick to what I know works. If I did, I would probably be an accomplished novelist by now, which by the way is at the source of my true writing ambition!

Thank you for your interest.

ttfn - ta ta for now

Charm

http://hubpages.com/hub/article-writing-traffic-increaseArticle Writing: How To Drastically Increase Your Traffic And Earnings

http://hubpages.com/hub/5-Money-Making-Tips-Most-Hubbers-Forget-To-Use5 Money

Making Tips Most Hubbers Forget To Use

http://hubpages.com/hub/Frustrated-Writers-Can-Earn-Some-REAL-Cash

Frustrated Writers Can Earn Some Real Cash

http://www.ehow.com/how_5167894_paid-writing-constant-content-articles.html

How To Get Paid More Money Writing Constant Content Articles

http://www.ehow.com/how_5048989_write-money-google-ad-sense.html

How to Write A Daily Blog And Make Money With Google Ad Sense

http://hubpages.com/hub/constant-content-cash

Non-Active Content Writers...Make Money!

http://hubpages.com/hub/constant-cash-to-write

Why Constant Content Is A Legitimate Writing Gig!

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