Subject: writing and writing about writing. I’ve written about writing quite a bit on this blog in the short time I’ve had it. It struck me that I might be giving the impression that I have been writing a long time and know quite a lot about writing. I hope that’s not the case. I write about writing simply because I love writing and what I have to say about it is based on my personal experience, such as it is. I have not been writing seriously for a long time—only since about the year 2000—and have never taken writing as a subject in any school of higher learning. But that, as far as I am concerned, is just the point.

One of my earliest ambitions was writing. I never followed through on that ambition because I was told that one could never make a living at it. I had, I was told, to find a business or profession with a more stable future. So I didn’t pursue writing as a career. I never ceased writing altogether and did succeed in having a few things published over the years but nothing of importance. In 2000, health problems forced me to find something else to occupy my time. I chose writing as that “something else” and found a brand new world opening up for me. Since then, I have found more and more reasons to thank the problems that led me to writing.

I have always been interested in finding the “meaning to life” (for lack of a better description) and in recent years have delved into that more deeply. I have come to believe that each individual has a unique purpose for existence and that purpose is tied directly to talents and abilities he or she possesses. To express those, I believe, is the main purpose of a person’s life. Unfortunately, the talents and abilities one possesses often do not coincide with what is valued by society. As a result, they are ignored by society and. most likely, by the individual. But they never disappear and are never really forgotten. Lying dormant, they can cause problems in the individual—frustration, regret, unfulfilled ambitions. Also, their being ignored can cause the loss of potential benefit to society.

I am all in favor of anybody, at any stage of his or her life, becoming aware of these hidden or suppressed talents, abilities and dreams and doing one’s very best to bring them to fruition, whatever that may be. So that’s what I am encouraging when I write about writing and the joy I find in it. I am not an expert; I am simply saying that if you have the feeling you want to write there is nothing to do but take a chance and try it. Those are simply my feelings. As the saying goes: “Take what you like and leave the rest.”