Why We Share

I recently posted an article on my personal blog titled Don't Wait concerning the importance of early testing and detection when it comes to colon cancer. I received quite a bit of public and private feedback which led to some soul searching on my part. I'm sure the answer to this question is different for each of us, but let's talk about it for a bit. Let's talk about why we share our stories, our lives, our dreams our thoughts, our views, and our opinions through our writing. What's the motivation behind all the sharing?

Whether sharing through a blog, a poetry reading, a memoir, a contest submission, etc... (and the list is quite lengthy), there are those of us who use our writing to share things with others each and every single day. We all travel different paths, live in different places, and have our own unique stories to tell. I'm hoping you'll leave a comment on this post telling me your motivation and reason for sharing, because I'm genuinely curious. I think sometimes people's perception of why we share is completely the opposite of our reality.

They think we do it to stand in the spotlight.
Here's our reality: Even as a little girl, I wanted to share my stories. Our neighborhood group put together a newspaper that we distributed for free to anyone who wanted a copy. Keep in mind this was well before computers, and each edition was hand written by a group of elementary school students. Our motivation was never to make money or become famous and I guess we didn't stop to think "no one is going to be interested in reading this, so why bother?". I think most of us share with the intention of helping others - we hope that our pain, our struggle, and our laughter is going to positively impact others.

They think we do it for the money.
In reality, most authors don't make a lot of money. Most write during their free moments and still have another job to pay the bills. We write because we cannot imagine life without writing - just like most people can't live without air, we cannot live without words.

What are some other reasons people think you share your passion for writing? Is that perception accurate? What's your real motivation?

I love being engaged in conversation about my writing and hope it will inspire others to share their stories. Everyone is a teacher and we can learn and grow through their stories and experiences. No matter what your motivation or what people may think motivates you - just keep writing and please keep sharing!

Hugs,
~Crystal

Crystal is a secretary, council secretary, financial secretary, and musician at her church, birth mother, Auntie, babywearing mama, business owner, active journaler, writer and blogger, Blog Tour Manager with WOW! Women on Writing, Press Corp teammate for the DairyGirl Network, Unicorn Mom Ambassador, as well as a dairy farmer. She lives in Wisconsin with her husband and their five youngest children, two dogs, four little piggies, a handful of cats and kittens, horses Darlin' and Joker, and over 250 Holsteins.

You can find Crystal milking cows and riding unicorns (not at the same time), taking the ordinary and giving it a little extra (making it extraordinary), blogging and reviewing books here, and at her personal blog - Crystal is dedicated to turning life's lemons into lemonade!