"One Who Loves"

"One Who Loves" is the meaning for amateur in French. I can relate to that definition as I am sure you who have chosen this craft can. I love to write but I also feel like an amateur when I sit down to write something new. Many great writers have said that each book is a new beginning, that they too start over as a "new" or amateur writer when crafting in a new direction. So you and I are not alone in this feeling.

I have managed to write at all stages of my life--when depressed, when joyful, when saddened, when exuberant. I feel that I have wasted time, lost out, ignored a part of my life if I don't write something each day. Maybe I will never use what I write in a journal, or throw out pages of what I write some days. But the fact that I have made an effort tells me I am a writer.

Writing can feel like stepping off into thin air without a parachute or a net beneath us. It is especially true for those of us who don't use an outline, who write by the seat of our pants. I start off each new project by walking off an unknown cliff. The journey is sometimes fearful. The road curves into unknown places and I am alone most of the time. I must only try to go wherever my writing leads, to listen to the characters if I know them well enough to hear them or, if writing nonfiction, attempt to be as honest with myself and my readers as I can.

"Everyone has talent. What is rare is the courage to follow that talent to the dark place where it leads." (Erica Jong)