Seven Degrees Left of Center

Writerhood

Overwhelmed? Yep, that is the word I am looking for to describe the past week. Thank you, Schnujo's Doing NaNoWriMo? , for the encouragement and unexpected plug, and thank you for all the new likes and followers.

Before my brain tumor, I wished I could be a writer. After the events this week, the quote, "Be careful what you wish for; it might come true, " or some variation of similar combined words came to mind. I wondered, have I finally succeeded in being named Writer? I have 30 years of notebooks containing aged yellow paper. The pages contain hours of pen and pencil marks. However, I have always needed clarification on what being named Writer meant.

I equated becoming a Writer to becoming a Knight. First, a King (Publisher, Editor, Printer) or another Knight (Published author, Poet, Reporter) would tap my shoulder with a quill. Next, they needed to exchange some obligatory words ending, "Henceforth and forever you are a Writer of Words, Teller of Tales, and Thinker of Big Thoughts."

After surviving a brain tumor and associated misadventures, I realized I had been a writer all along. Thanks to mild brain damage. I am getting a new opportunity to learn what being a writer means. I hope, with practice, I become a better Writer of Words. Today, I am grateful I can thread together these few. The courage to write down your thoughts is being a Thinker of Big Thoughts. All the other things, grammar, spelling, plot twists, characters, etc., are tools to become a Teller of Tales.

I started writing again about 18 months ago. The scale my speech therapist used estimated a 2nd-grade intellect. I have improved, but I am not an "A" student. However, I am a writer. It turns out I have always been a writer. The proof? I write good things, bad or ugly, I write. Before this, I worked and waited to be granted a Writerhood.

Not now. I write because I am a writer, not because of a wish. If you pen your own words, you are a writer, too, just in case no one has told you.