How many hours, in the last week, did you spend doing something writerly?  Blogging about writing, researching for your writing, reading the books like every good writer says you should, etc.

Less than five hours?  Less than ten? 

For me, I honestly couldn’t tell you.  The last week was a good one for me – I finished and read three books, made some final touches on my first chapter for a contest, figured out what I’m going to write on my other blog for upcoming blogfests, participated in some blogfests, got an idea and a partner for a blogfest I want to host, figured out the complications with a flat character, twists in the story that I couldn’t figure out how to write….you get the idea. 

And I don’t want to count the hours. 

In the land of writing, of which we are all citizens, there are many different things we HAVE to count – words in our manuscripts, days before we can expect a response, days before we assume we aren’t going to get a response, the minutes or hours it may take to reach the goals and the list goes on.

But if you were to ask any writer why they do it, the response seems to be that they can’t imagine not doing it.  Writers have loved writing since they were young – the sorrows and joys of characters, the adventures and self-discoveries.

Writers write because they love the word. 

Loving the word means there is no need to run out for sugary heart shaped sweets.  The word will be around LONG after petals from the roses fall from the stem.  And the word will always continue to challenge us, push us to discover something we may not have even known existed, allow us to experience sorrow and wait patiently for us to return and experience it all again.

How do you plan to celebrate your love of writing and words today?  Tomorrow?  What steps are you taking to nurture this relationship for a long, long time?