A Ram In Writer's Clothing

HINT for Beth's Birthday Hunt Clue #2

A  B  C  D . . .
Z  Y  X  W . . .

If you still don't get it, email me :)




I have the exact wrong kind of personality for being a writer.

I hate waiting.  I'm a total plow-ahead type.  I'm impatient and overly fond of instant gratification.  I'm liable to act first and think later more often than I care to admit.  And I want results now!  (Come to think of it, I sound a lot like a preschooler, which may explain why I write for that age group :))

I blame it on my zodiac sign.  I'm a ram, after all, and they are not known for their tiptoe-along-the-sidelines approach to life, but rather for barging headlong at whatever is in their path!

Anyway, take all that burning impatience and match it up with a career that requires months and months (well, let's be honest, often years!) of waiting - for the writing process itself, which takes time; for my agent to decide whether a new ms is good enough to submit; for editors to read and ponder and pass or accept; and if they do accept, for an artist to be chosen, and then draw/paint the book; and then for printing, shipping, and finally publication if I'm lucky -  and you'll see why I should really stay away from caffeine :)

But I'll tell you why I stick with being a writer, in spite of the frustration, the waiting, the lack of guarantees.

It's because I love to write and can't imagine doing anything else.

It's because every now and again, a little idea I had becomes a new book, and that book makes its way to classrooms and homes where it hopefully brightens the day a little, whether by encouraging a child to believe in himself the way Phyllis does, or help a child know she's not alone in her conflicted feeling about the arrival of a new sibling like Rose, or just learn about something new that they find interesting, like freight trains or airplanes or construction vehicles.

It's because sometimes, when I visit kids in classrooms, one shy hand will go up and its owner will give voice to the dream he or she has of becoming a writer, and the fact that he or she has had the chance to meet a writer makes that dream feel more possible.  And that writer is me.

So the next time I'm banging my head, ram-like, against the wall in frustration and proclaiming that I'm not cut out to be a writer but should go get a job at the local Stop-and-Shop, you may feel free to tell me sharply to knock it off and get back to work!

Because a writer is who I am.