People. My family. My friends. YOU! Writing can be such an insular process. The loneliness of the long distance runner, I get that, but it’s got nothing on the writing experience. The worry, the doubt, the 1001 emotions that rampage through your head every time your finger hovers over the publish button. It’s a whirlwind, forever seeking to scale the summit of an imaginary hill of words. A world of words can be an intimidating landscape.
Yet I survey it, having clambered to the peak. Getting my thoughts on paper has been the making of me, it has unraveled so many emotional knots, scraped away the detritus and revealed the real me to the world. Warts and all. It has been the most cleansing, liberating experience possible, the most refreshing of power showers. Part of that has been not just the writing itself, but the sharing of my labours. With you.
Interaction and feedback have been the life giving literary oxygen my starved lungs have craved. It’s a buzz, a fix, but a positive one that doesn’t result in a 12 hour blackout followed by a 3 day hangover of monumental proportions. I need to write now, as much as I need to eat and sleep. It is a basic necessity, a cornerstone of my day. I’d write if three people read this blog or 3 million. It is part of me, chiselled on my newly refined DNA.
The joyous offspring of this new obsession has been the book. Two years of grafting but when I hold it and flick through it’s pages, I experience a slightly odd out of body experience. Did I really write this? Wow. What’s more, people seem to like it. Double Wow. They can’t all be lying, can they? Is this a world wide conspiracy by a group of people who don’t know one another in order to keep my ever brittle confidence intact?
Writing often involves dredging your past to recover and examine memories you’d rather leave buried. It can be a painful activity but a worthwhile one as it leads to new memories, friendships and experiences. The collage above says it so much more eloquently than I ever could. These kind, supportive, loving people. They are my reason for writing, for being alive, free from the shackles of a shameful past. For that I thank you all.
Why do you write?
What are your reasons for staying alive?
Like my words? Then try my book. ‘The Kirkwood Scott Chronicles: Skelly’s Square,’ is now available on Amazon in e book and paperback format. Just click the link below for more details. You won’t regret it.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/KIRKWOOD-SCOTT-CHRONICLES-Skellys-Square-ebook/dp/B07V6HVLQV
Black Thoughts 
so how are sales doing for the book so far?
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Quite good, especially in the States. Have you a copy?
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No
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Sorry, didn’t mean to be short about it, but according to my good reads, I’m currently reading 36 and my want to read list is also growing. I do believe that most good writers and well read themselves. I would ask in return if you got any of my books yet?
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Actually, I added more to my Goodreads list, I’m on chapter 4 already. But I got the Kindle edition so I don’t know how I can do a selfie with that.
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Thank you very much. What is your author name on Amazon?
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Bruce Dinsman
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I got a copy!!!
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Brilliant. Thank you. I hope you enjoy it 🙂
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It’s awesome 👏
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I’m really proud of you! Envious, of course, but proud. 🙂
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Thank you. Posted you your copy yesterday. They say 5 days to deliver. Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it.
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Yay! I’ve been holding my breath, so the sooner the better.
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May God continue to bless the work of your hands and heart! I can relate to your description of writing. It has become who I am. Without writing, I wouldn’t be me.
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I agree, Julie. Thank you very much.
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You are most welcome!
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Writing is still a hobby for me. One I seem to pick up and work on occasionally. I so admire your ability to consistently share meaningful and thought-provoking content through your blog.
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Thank you very much. You write well 🙂
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My paperback copy arrived this week. I am in the middle of a book already I bought out in Australia, but your’s is my next to read.
I am delighted for your success.
As for my reasons to live…I don’t think WordPress could cope if I listed all of them…so many people and things I love. I don’t want WordPress to crash at the weekend so I won’t itemise them all individually.
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Thank you very much. Really looking forward to what you think of it 🙂
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Nice blog! I’ll continue to follow it from Battersea, Ontario Canada where I live three seasons of the year. I like your writing style and am glad you enjoyed my blog too. Happy writing!
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Thank you very much Susan. Great to have you on board 🙂
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Writing… why? I’ve been told I can write. I’m not anywhere close to having your talent. Seems my writing has become subpar recently. Probably because I’m not giving it a priority. Anxiety can do that even if the anxiety has nothing to do with actually writing.
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It can. And I’m nothing special, far from it.
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Anxiety is a big roadblock for me, as well. Talent is just practice, keep up at it! I try to write one page a day at least and I’ve seen a big change in my writing skill over the last couple of years. You have a great vocabulary, don’t be too hard on yourself. 🙂
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Thank you. I’ll keep that in mind!
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Thank you. I’m trying.
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I am so happy for you!
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Thank you Robin 🙂
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I write to share what I’ve learned and what I’m learning in life! In the hopes that it will help others to live their best possible life. I totally resonate with what you were saying about writing being so life-giving. It is so therapeutic and has helped me process more than I ever expected. Plus, as a teacher of English to high school students, it puts me back in that place of being a writer to better understand where they’re coming from and help them become better writers and struggle well.
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Those are great reasons to write. Thank you for sharing them 🙂
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Reasons for staying alive: There’s still so much to do – we need your help, insight and wisdom so stay with us! 30 years in recovery. 6 months I was like “is this all there is? really?”. Then one night I’m driving home from a friend’s wedding. It’s 1:30 am, I’m driving in my mom’s car on 495 south of Hopkinton in Massachusetts (USA). Sun roof is open. I look up – and see a clear starlit sky. It’s beautiful. Drive.. look up again… same beautiful sky full of bright stars. Then that smell. What the heck is that? I pull over, get out of the car and lean against the hood and look up and breathe in and breathe out and take in the smell of the pine trees and the fresh night air. I can tell you the world is amazing when the addiction is no longer active and the anxiety has diminished. Please keep writing – (www.saleysphoto.com)
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I will. Thank you for your wonderful testimony 🙂
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I am struggling to write as much as I used to but I recently joined a writing group so I’m hoping this will help make it a more regular habit.
I write because I love it and it’s when I most feel like my true self.
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I hope the writing group works out for you 🙂
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I write to translate the mysteries of the divine that are swirling through my consciousness. I write to understand that which flows through my being. I write to connect the core of what I know myself to be with the entirety of the world able to listen. I write because better things come from having learned. I write to share the insight and understanding I have gained in the hope of helping others. I write to enjoy the bliss of recording the instantaneous passage of thoughts through time. I write because I believe God uses my words to speak to a world unable to hear Him clearly. I write because when go before God I will be able to articulately express to God exactly how He moved me in life.
There are so many reasons that I write.
The simplest is I write because it feels the right thing to do.
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I think we all write with a common goal in mind. To connect with others and express what is within us. Thank you for your words 🙂
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I write because it helps me process, and hopefully, will help others. I stay alive because I’m not done spending time with the people I love and who love me.
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I’m still trying to figure that out. I write because it’s become a way for me to release my thoughts.
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There’s no better reason.
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I write as a reflex, I always have, I enjoy it and sometimes I don’t, but either way I still do it. My reasons to stay alive are no longer relevent, so I’m currently choosing to do so in order to see if life gets any better. I’m giving myself a chance to see if I can find some joy in living again. We’ll see I guess
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I hope your writing is a success
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Thank you.
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I have not written in years but it was my everything; my soul screaming, my rebellion, my joy and my rage. I’ve often thought that most writers have been muzzled in the past and/or present. So often, I wrote to cover what I could not speak aloud. Thanks for the reminder.
P.S. Killing Eve was an excellent escape and Lucifer was light hearted fun. 🙃
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Thank you. I hope you pick up your pen one day and write again 🙂
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I write because it puts smiles on people’s faces. One person in particular. And I stay alive because He lives.
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