Literary Mama kindly published my essay. Read below or check it out on the Literary Mama website.  Inspired by a prompt to talk about what motivates me to write.  For anyone with an inkling for anything, hopefully this post will will give you a flavor of what I think about writing for shoezle and get you thinking about something for you.  Say a run, baking, painting, organizing, blogging, anything.  Enjoy!

Writing is My Song

I like to write, especially about funny incidents and unlikely connections about my kids.  My goal is to amuse readers weekly, with my blog, shoezle.com.  Fun for both, I hope.  I know when I have a good topic because it burns inside of me and I just want to stop life and start typing.  It’s like that itch to work out.  You must get to the gym or pool to let off steam.  With my blog, it’s my creative energy I need to release, an urge to expel deep or humorous thoughts.   And when I do, I am euphoric, filled with writing endorphins.  Most times, the process is not so easy; I think I don’t have enough to say.  How can I begin?

A while ago, when I announced to my six siblings, “I want to write.  This is what I am meant to do,” I was met with deadpanned response, not a word was spoken.  Nobody laughed or said,  “You’re weird!” Nobody teased me either.  And believe me, my family can dish it out.Surprisingly, my older brother gave me a book the next time I saw him:  Zen Guitar by Philip Toshio Sudo.  My brother plays acoustic guitar, remarkably well.  He is a person of few words.  So when he talks, it’s pause-worthy.   The premise of the book is how we all have a sound we want to make and it comes from within.  It doesn’t have to be music.  Whatever your sound, when connected to your soul the result is harmony.  My brother was sharing his revelation of perfecting the sound.  He recognized my instrument, my Zen Guitar:  writing.

It’s been over a year since I read that book.  I read it fast.  It resonated strongly with me; I still refer back to it in thought and in writing.  I think about it while I watch American Idol.  I see aspiring contestants trying to play their Zen Guitar.  I know when they find it because goose bumps form on my arms.  I can feel it in my soul.  If they really connect with their song, they are crying at the end of their performance.  Their heart is on the outside, their artistry, their Zen Guitar.  It’s inspiring to me.  It makes me want to write, to play my own Zen Guitar.

If I am ever in a funk and I don’t feel a creative urge to write, it’s like I misplaced my instrument.  To find it, I watch or listen to someone perform a song.  A spark ignites deep within and I find the courage to try again.  Sudo says not to worry about perfection, just play.  It will come.  So, I start writing what I think I want to say and ultimately, an idea forms, morphs and becomes clearer each time I work the piece.  Eventually I am brave enough to post to my blog.  And usually someone will like my music and tell me so.  I am singing inside.  Happy I played my song.