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Why I write and publish

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image of writing and publishingI write to make ideas tangible.

I write to test the validity of ideas.

I write because it’s the doing part of thinking.

and here’s the big one…

I write to fill the time I used to fill with behaviors and habits that could have destroyed my life.

Sometime between June and July 2009 I pulled my head out of my rear end and began to write a new story for myself. The milestone is probably the day I wrote Regaining Trust. Sometimes, I read random posts between then and now. To me they read like a journal and the value is well… priceless.

That’s why I write.

Writing of course should not be confused with publishing.

So…

I publish to leave something behind when my time here is done.

I publish to share the good the bad and all the other stuff with those who want to know.

I publish to find business.

I publish to find speaking engagements.

That’s why I publish.

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Comments

  1. I like your reasons for writing and publishing Jim – I look forward to gaining some insight and sharing part of your journey… Cheers to you!

  2. I used to really enjoy writing, all kinds of writing; creative fiction, poetry, I even enjoyed writing the multitude of papers I had to write for my English degree. Yes, I enjoyed the act and challenge of writing and I used to think I was damned good at it too. Then for a little over a decade I stopped writing altogether.

    Writing for me has always meant sharing true emotion and passion for the topic with the reader, and for a time that got a little to close emotionally. Then my wife’s father died and my mother-in-law asked me to write a poem for the back of a commemorative bookmark that would be given out at his funeral to friends and family. We talked for a while about what she wanted it to say about him and his life, and it took 3 straight days of trying to get the words down, get the emotion in there, in short, to get right. In all honesty I have to say it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to write. Then once again I let writing slip quietly into the background. that was just over 6 years ago.

    In recent months I’ve tried to start my own blog and honestly I’ve let life and project work get in the way. Then Jim and I got on to the subject of comic books and I wrote the original Batman or Superman post that I shared with Jim. I tried to write it in Jim’s straightforward style and I thought it went well. So much so I thought it sounded almost exactly like Jim, and I was surprised when Jim asked if he could guest post it, and I said yes.

    Later, I found I had more to say than I could fit into the original Batman or Superman post and so I wrote Batman or Superman II. And in sharing those posts with Jim, I rediscovered that I like writing. How much fun writing can be. But most of all, I learned that I like writing for other people.

    So when Jim asked “Why do you write?” the other day on Twitter, I spent a good deal of time thinking about it that night. I guess my answer would have to be that in the end, I write because I like to share, and because I like to write for other people. And all because Jim asked such a simple question I think I’ve found the path that might lead me to writing once again.