Why do I write?  Completing a work that clearly presents what I believe, know and care about, in a way that touches someone, is one of the greatest feelings in my world.

But, there are some days when it is utterly impossible to even get started.  On those days, I realize I have not “thought” long enough.  For, thinking is part of writing, though the non-writer doesn’t understand this.  In fact, they even try to describe the process as “being lazy.”  Some people just do not see…

I sit, staring at a snow-capped mountain in the distance behind a field full of wild daisies.  I watch the irony of an airplane streaking across the sky, while an eagle hovers in one place holding its wings against the wind.  A bee buzzes past the airy screen door…  What was that quote I loved?  Or that story on the news about a rich, elderly lady who fed the poor — what did she feel, what did she believe?

Many times, it is a very private and personal place that I find myself.  Soaking in the world around me, staring into space and thinking about the emotional connection to my topic at hand — that is where I always find the words, if I “think” long enough.

There is only one other place in my life that I allow myself to connect as deeply, and that is with my love, my husband of 31 years.  So, in the words of writer and literary critic, Alfred Kazin, I define how I truly feel about what and why I write, “When a writer talks about his work, he’s talking about a love affair.”