I just finished watching CSI: Miami and it reminded me that I needed to come in and post something to my blog today. Of course, I could be writing, but here I am, blogging.

The “theme” for the week of residency at school this term was remembering what inspired us to start writing in the first place. My answer was so that the voices in my head didn’t drive me mad…and because at fourteen or fifteen, I decided I was too old to be playing with Barbie dolls any more.

I remember being inspired by the books I read or TV shows/movies I watched to continue the story, or make up new storylines for characters I really liked. I guess I was writing “Fan-fic” before it was ever called “fan-fic”! Before I started writing it down, I would act it out, either by myself in the backyard where a tire-swing served as a horse, or the playhouse a castle, or with my few close friends who also liked the same movies/TV shows and were just as weird as I.

Looking back, I think that’s why I had so few friends and it was hard for me to make friends – because I lived in my own world of story and I didn’t want to try to explain to the “normal” kids I knew why I spent hours fantasizing about my favorite characters, because I had already experienced some amount of ridicule from kids at school and didn’t need any more.

As an adult, God has blessed me by surrounding me with other writers – people suffering from the same affliction I have – with whom I can not only share my stories, but talk about the inspiration for them as well as brainstorm ideas or work out problems. I’ve also come to realize that being a writer is a talent and a calling God gifted me with.

So, while I may have started writing to keep the voices in my head down to a dull roar, I keep writing in obedience to the calling God has put on my life.