My lovely wife, Brooke, probably knew it was only a matter of time before the blogger bug bit me. 

I have resisted. 

I have persevered.

I have been strong.

I can no longer resist. 

And so, I give in.

I can live with the smug look this will put on Brooke’s face (it is very cute, anyway), but what I cannot live without is writing.

You see, I have a talent.  Sure, there may be those that will argue the point.  I have talked with many who want to convince me that it isn’t true.  Some laugh.  Some raise their eyebrows.  Some just give that all-knowing ‘Uh-huh’ look.  But all of these things combined don’t change the fact.

I am a writer.

There.  I said it.

Realize, I am not posting this as some sort of attempt at revenge for all the negativity I have experienced.  After all, I can certainly see where all the doubt comes from.  Writing is the one thing which almost everyone thinks they can do well.

Stringing a few words into a coherent form to express an idea is not difficult.  It is something we do almost everyday.  To do something full-time that you do daily seems logical.  It seems simple.  Can’t be that hard, right?

Wrong.

Let me share an epiphany I had some time ago, but have been struggling with ever since: writing is genuine work.

Now, that may seem laughable and all, but I think this is why so many people start out writing a book and then give up.  I have no problem working.  I have no problem with challenging work.  But, I guess I had this ridiculous idea floating around that I didn’t have to put that much effort into it.

Don’t get me wrong: writing is something that comes naturally to me.  This is why I believe I have a real talent for it.  Figuring things out creatively is natural.  I love it.  I thrive on it.  I am passionate about it.

The challenge thing for me comes in finding time to do it.  I realize that we make time for things that matter most to us, but I have a lot of things in my life that matter most to me.  Foremost, my beautiful family who I am so truly BLESSED to have in my life.

Second is my job.  I recently moved into a position at work that is much more complicated than what I was doing before.  This is a good thing, because it is challenging, so I know I am growing.  However, this has a tendency to absorb my attention…like, a lot.

Oh, yeah, then I have the whole church thing in there somewhere…social things…video game things…thinking about going to the gym…you know, all the essentials! =)

So, what I am saying is this: finding time to devote just to writing is difficult, if not impossible.  And I guess I am not talented enough to write creatively and burp a screaming baby or negotiate between two little girls over which princess gets to wear the Belle dress.

But I can find any number of reasons why I don’t do the things I want to do.  Excuses are easy to find, especially for someone who is as creative as I am (really, I can come up with some good ones).  In the words of a really good friend of mine: “Excuses are like armpits: everyone has two of them and they both stink”.

I don’t want to do the excuse thing anymore.  It’s not really getting me anywhere.

So, here is my epiphany moment: I can either forget about my dream to write and get on with life, or I can allow myself the experience of struggling and succeeding at writing.

I realize I took a bit of a shot at religion, but my religion is a HUGE part of my life.  Forgive me for using a bit of it here.

To me, my writing is a religious experience.  I have thought a lot about this and I have decided it is because good writing comes from the heart.  Powerful writing happens when a person, any person, speaks from the heart.  I am a good writer because the words I write evoke the greatness of my spirit.

(gasps)

Yeah, maybe a bit cheesy, but this is how I feel, and I just can’t get away from it.

In the old testament, there was a prophet named Jeremiah.  Once, he was very down about his calling to call repentance.  Compound this with the wickedness of the people and their undoubtedly rude response to his pleas, and you have one very sad, frustrated person.

“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.  But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”  Jeremiah 20:9

Hmmm.  Yeah, that’s it exactly.  I am weary with forbearing.

Which leads me to why I chose the quote I did for my blog.

As crazy as it sounds,

as unreal as my expectation may be,

as hair-brained as this dream is,

I am a writer.