I’m not saying I have the answer – I’m hoping you writers will answer in the comments. But I do know the answer for me.

What an amazing, complex life we lead, populated with people unlike us and experiences we couldn’t imagine, much less foresee. I’m fascinated by the kaleidoscope of change, and how other people view differently the same things I see.

Writers are first, observers. I think we all began as ‘noticers’, seeing things others pass by. Somehow it congeals in your head over the years, and remembered photos shuffle to a (seemingly) random photo album of memories that eventually morph to a book. Don’t ask me how – I’m as in the dark about it as you are. I’m just grateful for it.

I didn’t discover why I do this until many years after I began. It started with an unfocused compelling drive, and it wasn’t until I looked back over the books I produced that I discovered:

It’s true. These are several of my books, and what I realized, looking back.

The Road to Me (my first) – putting to rest childhood sexual abuse.

The Reasons to Stay – marrying into a family of three and becoming an instant parent.

The Sweet Spot – forgiveness includes forgiving yourself.

Days Made of Glass – Moving on from grief – it allowed me to finally let go of my sister who died of cancer a decade before.

The Road to Me – The way you see things as a child is only a small part of the whole picture.

Amazing Gracie (out next April) – How to come back from a seemingly unforgiveable mistake.

For Roger (working on now) – Mercy vs. selfishness – facing the inevitability of losing a spouse.

I had NO idea when I began writing each of these that I was exploring an aspect of my own life that I was struggling with. It only became clear in retrospect.

The mind is an amazing thing.

So let’s hear it, writers!  Why do you write?

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