Dave's Not Here

Recently I have taken to writing for fun.  Something I never thought I would hear myself say.  I was terrified of english all throughout high school and college.  As a matter of fact, I only had one english teacher that I actually liked.  Thinking back I understand much better now why that was.  It was because that one teacher urged me, encouraged me, and didn’t try to make me fit into the typical english student mold.  Two weeks ago I set an intention with my coach to write often.  Little did I know, but I wrote 12 essays over that time and ended up buying Crafting the Personal Essay by Dinty W. Moore.  And lo and behold my first writing exercise was to write about why I write. It is short and sweet and goes like this.

I write to meet my ghosts, and get to know them like old friends, so that I can hear myself think and befriend myself at a new level. 

I write because it is risky, I expose myself for what I am, to get to know my essence and to eventually expose it to those I write for.

I write to discover truths I never knew I had, truths that I might never have found otherwise.

I write to love, to love things that I want to run from, to welcome my inner self to my outer world and to rest in the awareness of it all.

I write to share, to share myself with those close.  I hope they draw closer and share themselves with me in return.

I write as though I am telling my son what I would like him to know so that he doesn’t have to struggle like I did.  I want him to be able to stand on my shoulders and see where he came from more clearly.