September/October, 2020

Why do you write? Do you see writing as a passion, as healing, as a means of artistic expression, or as a profession? Where do your words sit?

This question has come up frequently for me this past year. For me, writing began as a passion as a child. Yet despite my childhood drive, advice and life steered me away from writing as a means of creative expression or as a career for almost 40 years.

As an adult and medical professional, writing and crafting tales became a means of articulating my appreciation for others as the CEO of a healthcare business — a way to express validation and hope in our quarterly team meetings, monthly newsletters and awards presentations. Occasionally, I’d jot down a poem or idea. I’d tell my children quickly made-up stories each night when they were little. Yet I never put them to ink.

Then came the event that shook my world. Seven years ago I suffered a traumatic brain injury, and writing resurfaced to become a path towards recovery and rehabilitation (along with Sudoku, math, and word-puzzles—all have been shown to help the brain heal, retraining damaged neurons). I was terrified when I couldn’t read/make sense of business documents — the head injury forced me to make a life choice and leave the stressful world of my medical business. I sold it a few months after my accident. When I began my rehabilitation I searched for ways to heal — writing was one of the earliest gifts of my head injury. It allowed me to slow down, listen, and notice life more. I rediscovered that I had a voice. Slowly, my brain learned the love of words again.

To this day, I still need to triple proof everything — remnants of my head injury can still cause me to leave out small words in my first drafts (conjunctions, pronouns, prepositions). When speaking, I sometimes replace the word I intended to say with a word that sounds or looks the same, but isn’t. I am at peace with it. I like this slower-paced me, and I love that I have time to tell stories again. I’ve become a master proof-reader and editor — show me your draft, and I’ll find the holes :).

So for me, I’d say writing has fully returned as a passion — there is no money in it, at least for now, but I’m enjoying rediscovering what I think I was intended to do. Every acceptance, compliment, and contest finalist/shortlist announcement is a gift, validation that I’m where I’m meant to be. Even more than that, I also write because my partner and kids told me not to give up. "Your stories are good, mom."

So whether you see writing as a calling, artistic expression, a means of healing or a career path, I hope that you always feel compelled to craft stories — that you embrace the need to tell. You never know who you’ll reach, what impact your shared heart will have.

#StillWriting

Cheryl