This, above all, to thine own self be true....

What makes a writer?

The easiest and most straight-forward answer is: A writer is a writer because he/she writes...

The real truth is, there is no answer--- at least not an answer that could comfortably fit in the space of a single blog post, or that could hold the attention span of anyone reading this.

There's no magic formula, no magic pill, no magic anything that will make you or anybody a writer... a writer just is. Period.

'How do I know if I'm a writer?' one might ask.... if you have to ask this question, then you aren't a writer.

As a child, I was always awestruck by the idea of being a writer. There was something mysterious about being a writer. In my eager, curious and developing mind, being a writer was akin to being a master magician (this was before I realized there was no magic writer formula/pill). I believed that the books we read, the books we held in our hands, were priceless treasures and that the writers of these books were the gods of the library---- I still believe this, even if I can't take a magic pill and have my book write itself.

From the tender age of 11, I have written-- poems, short stories, essays, novels, strange sketches-- all because I just did. There was never any day that I woke up and just said, 'today I'm going to write a poem about the moon'. There was never any day that I just said I must write. I just wrote.

It's taken years for me to realize that writing isn't something that you do... writing is what you are.

My entire childhood, adolescence and early adulthood have been spent preparing for my future... for college, for a career--- and every single academic, professional choice I made led me down every avenue EXCEPT the writer's path. I never sought the writer's path. I never searched for a byline or a means to getting my words into print. I always believed my life would have a different direction than the one I am currently pursuing.

I know I've said there's no magic formula or magic pill when it comes to becoming a writer--and there isn't-- but, there is something indefinable about the process of writing. Ask any writer who's had a story take the reins away from them...or any writer who's felt the odd, tingling sensation in their fingers when a story's ready to come out... or any writer who's been jolted awake in the middle of the night by the uncontrollable need to reach for a pen/paper to jot down what has to be written at that EXACT moment (which has nothing to do with whatever they were dreaming)---- a writer simply can't NOT write!

And, it has taken me all these years to realize, finally, that though there is no magic in the world that can make you a writer, being a writer is the most magical thing in the world.

A to Z reflections....

Another A to Z challenge comes to an end--- another collection of posts and poetry have been written, another deep breath of relief is released. For my fellow bloggers that survived as well, it's another 'challenge-completed' notch carved into the writing desk. I've come to enjoy my yearly foray into the world of all things alphabetical. This was my third year, though it was only the second year I had a workable theme (which made the challenge substantially easier than the first year I attempted this challenge.) And, though my first year was difficult because my focus was so scattered, I found this year was more difficult because I lost the enthusiasm that came with the first year excitement----excitement which helped me plug along until the end of the challenge. Year 3 was a success in the sense that I completed the challenge, though, this was the year that almost wasn't---- Somewhere about a third of the way through the challenge, I seriously considered...

B is for Banshee.....

Irish bean sidhe and Scottish Gaelic bean sith , literally, woman of fairyland. The mythology and legend surrounding the Banshee is a bit mixed. The most readily accepted story is of a hag-like creature wailing the impending death of someone nearby-- most ancient Gaelic families, especially the more well-to-do families, had their own Banshees that attached themselves to the lineage of the family name. I suppose it was a sign of station for a family to be able to claim their own Banshee--- I mean, who needs an exciting/ tongue-wagging-inciting skeleton in your cupboard when you've got a Banshee wailing in your rafters? The origins of the more familiar Banshee may have stemmed from the ancient Keeners-- women who were employed to sing a lament at a funeral. The best Keeners were in high demand to "wail" and "weep" for the great personage who had fallen. The Great families would boast a bean sidhe or bean sith-- a fairy-woman Keener--and having foresig...

A-Z Reflections, year 4....

A-Z blogging challenge for 2014 has come and gone, seemingly without my realizing it. And, though I fell behind once or twice toward the end, I finished this year's challenge right on time. Really, I can't believe it's already over. I feel like I just finished my post for letter A... Year 4, for this blogger, was a far cry from the tortured state of despondency that was most of Year 3 -- I'll not mention the irony of this year's focus on death being easier to blog about than last year's foray into supernatural creatures, we'll leave that for my therapy sessions *ahem* As always, A-Z brought with it, not only 26 days of unbridled and far-reaching knowledge (disguised as entertaining and thought-provoking blog-posts), but a chance to connect with new faces while reconnecting with familiar faces--who had perhaps drifted away--from A-Z's past. I am always amazed by the ingenuity and inspiration that comes from lumping a couple thousand folk...

From the Inkwell, From the Vein.....

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