Writing is interesting. I know, shocker. I love writing. I adore it because there are so many possibilities. And just thinking about the act of writing, I think, is an entire truck load of talks on its own. When I first started writing, I didn’t really think about it. It’s only after years and years and years of doing it that I’ve thought about the mechanics of it.

Thinking of writing in its base form, I always seem to think of it as the act of working on a story. But there so much more to it when it’s taken at a broader form. Scripts, poetry, fiction, nonfiction, just the act of taking notes–all of it is ‘writing’ in a large sense. When I was seven years old, when I started writing my first short stories and butchered fan-fictions, I never thought of myself as writing, or even a writer. Being a writer always seemed to carry the idea of being a published author. Yet I was writing. Doing a school paper, now, I would consider writing from the idea that something is being recorded.

But, I still never thought of what was writing? Was it the act of putting a pencil or pen to paper? Well, no, because for the majority of my writing experience I’ve used a computer. I’m thirty so I grew up in the technological age where typing something on a laptop was far more efficient. I’ve constantly read about other authors who work on typewriters so I never could think of writing as the act itself.

I started working on a novel when I was probably ten years old. I came up with some ideas, I wrote them down, and those ideas just evolved into a crazy piece of work that I do hope to take further. So, of course, at that fresh young age of discovering writing, I worked on it whenever I got the chance. Other kids would constantly ask me what I was working on, and I responded with “I’m working on a book.”

I think about that response a lot, especially in this post regarding the overall thoughts surrounding writing or being a writer.

Back then, I didn’t consider myself a writer. And when some would follow with how I can write an entire book, story, or series, I always told them that it wasn’t hard, that anyone could write if they really put their mind to it. I don’t think of it as cliche either. If you had an idea, write it down. Boom, you’re a writer.

I still believe that today to some degree. Obviously, certain types of writing take certain types of creativity. I can write science fiction and horror easily, those genres come to me so naturally, but I don’t think I can write romance. But, then, the thoughts of being a writer makes me think that I should be good at any genre. Like I should be able to randomly pick any subject, any idea, and any genre and pump out a decent piece of work.

Does that make me a writer? I think so. I’ve only come to this realization–a rather simple realization–because I’ve worked to build that confidence, to not short sell myself just because I’m not published. The second I decided to jot down an idea, I was a writer.

It doesn’t have to be this special thing where you have that moment thinking ‘this is the moment I’ve truly become a writer.’

I think that’s the magic of it. Writing is interesting because it’s an expression. Just like any art or profession. It allows us to transfer thoughts into a real physical thing. If you look at words, those works were written. Someone thought to take their shapeless thoughts and bring them to tangibility.

I think that’s what’s fascinated me about writing for so long. There’s not really set rules. I can sit down and type out anything I want right now. It can be nonsense, it can be coherent, or it can just be my thoughts.

That’s the fun of it, and I think that’s why I’ve loved it for so long. There are so many things that limit our creativity or make it hard to really enjoy something.

Writing is easy for me because it’s something I can do whenever and however I want. I can start a blog, and write for pure joy without worrying about restrictions. I can choose to challenge myself or take the time to write a nice poem.

Writing, for me at least, symbolizes peace. It allows me to go to a place that I can control, every word and every thought, and lose myself in a comfortable world.

Writing is fun, and it makes me happy. Which, after all these years, I can proudly say makes me a writer.

So, I think about it again, what is writing? Fun? Passion? Happiness? Peace?

Nope–well, yes–that’s the secret. Writing is whatever you want it to be.