I recently had someone tell me I should write a book. It was after I told them the story of my sister and I having the police called to our home after I locked her out, and her having to resort to breaking in, which caused me to scream my 13 year old head off thinking Pennywise was coming to get me. For long time readers of our blog, this will be a familiar tale. For those who are newer to our blog, my parents went out and left my sister in charge. She left. I started reading IT by Stephen King in a dark house, with no one home. Eventually, I started to hear knocking which would stop each time I got up to investigate. I traipsed through my house with a whisk in hand, sure that that would take care of anything harmful, I walked into our den just in time to see a long, skinny, startlingly untanned arm reach through a window, I screamed. I screamed very loud. The neighbours thought I was in large amounts of trouble….which I soon would be because the police were called and they tracked down my parents who had gone out for a dinner with friends. That was the day I discovered that steam from your parents ears can power a car. They were home before my sister and I stopped laughing at each other. Obviously, they didn’t think it was as funny as we did.
Writing is often a cathartic process for many people. Some of us write to escape, or to figure out what, or who, or why. Some of us write out of necessity. When my mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I wrote a lot. I wrote about the frustration, the sadness, the anger, and the stress of managing the progression of the disease with a family that didn’t always get along and that was spread through two provinces. We made it work and pulled together especially after she lost her battle four years ago. My father now treads that same journey and it’s not easier.
We have been given the gift of language and it’s an amazing gift to have. Stringing together words to form sentences to communicate our thoughts, feelings, or various other bits and pieces of our lives. We have gone from using gestures and signals to pictures and finally words. With the advent of the cell phone we are back to using pictures in form of emojis which are also constantly evolving. It’s really fun to see what new emojis will pop up. Some of them are really hilarious and others convey feelings without having to say a word. Much like hieroglyphics we are telling our stories in pictures.
There are so many books on the subject of writing. Often authors will offer up classes, or online webinars to help people work towards writing down those first few phrases. The internet holds a wealth of information and, of course, we can find books on the subject too.
I have often thought about that advice to write a book. I am always nervous to start the process. But, as someone once said, the journey of a thousand miles begins with that first footstep.
