Thank-you to Greg for this month’s blog! You can chat more with Greg about writers and writing at his new monthly program, Writers Circle.
A colleague asked me to address the question: Why Write? They asked me, presumably because of the vibes I give off as a once-upon-a-time poet-musician-scholar… So…Why Write? May as well ask: why eat, why breathe?
This is not hyperbole. As homo sapiens we are, for better or for worse, story-making and story-telling creatures; stories are how we make meaning, how we define purpose, and – beyond the immediate need for water and shelter – how we maintain our existence, how we survive. And writing is how we share our stories beyond the immediate here and now.
You may wonder why I began this piece by alluding to myself as a former writer. I always seriously considered the dictate of Georges Simenon – the Twentieth- century French author best known for the detective Maigret – when he said: “I think that everyone who does not need to be a writer, who thinks he can do something else, ought to do something else.” I took Simenon’s career advice and pursed librarianship.
Over the years as I’ve become busier, my writing time has whittled away to infrequent bouts of inspiration. In the meantime I find joy and meaning as a public librarian and as a moonlighting second hand bookseller – in connecting readers, books, and writers.
Build your writing practise, with help from your Library!
Creative Writing for Beginners This 3-part series starts March 25th at 3:00 pm
Everyday Poetry April 7th at 6:00 pm
Writers Circle On the 2nd Tuesday of each month, beginning May 12th at 6:00 pm