A Time In Life When It’s Right To Write

Summary

The article discusses the personal journey of the author in discovering the right time to start writing, influenced by life's circumstances and the joy of sharing experiences.

Abstract

The author reflects on a conversation with their daughter about the timing of their writing endeavors, acknowledging that past years were filled with life's responsibilities, leaving little room for writing. The transformation occurred early this year when the author engaged in online writing challenges, leading to the discovery of Medium as a platform for sharing diverse stories. The article emphasizes that there is no set age or time to begin writing; it's about finding the right moment for oneself, regardless of age or experience. The author also mentions keeping an online journal and compares the process of writing to milking a cow, highlighting the importance of consistency and the satisfaction that comes with the flow of words.

Opinions

The author believes that life experiences can contribute to one's writing but are not a strict prerequisite for being a good writer.
Writing becomes more enjoyable and flows better when one starts writing at the right time for them.
Daily writing is seen as a practice that can improve one's writing style, similar to how regular milking improves the speed and efficiency of the milking process.
The author values the process of writing as a means to capture life's moments, even the mundane, for future reflection.
The article suggests that writing can be a therapeutic and rewarding experience, akin to the physical and rhythmic act of milking a cow, but without the risk of being kicked.

The “write” time will come when it’s ready

During a conversation with my beloved daughter, she said to me “It’s a shame you didn’t do this years ago”. She was discussing my writing. I’ll admit I’ve knocked around on Facebook for years now, writing funny posts about various near misses with the flock of sheep I look after, “another day, another injury”. It’s made people laugh and cheered them up with stories of a determined flock advancing on me, Rams laying in wait behind fenceposts, getting out into people’s gardens, each flock member has their own very definite character.

But the time wasn’t right. Life was in the way. Working, caring for my husband and looking after my daughter. There wasn’t time and I didn’t have the time to make. It was all too filled up with the normal day to day jobs of living.

But early this year something changed. I did a few writing challenges online and enjoyed it and writing became part of my day to day life. Looking around online I bumped into Medium and liked what I saw. So I joined. It seemed there were rather a lot of us about, all of different ages and backgrounds and we were all writing about various subjects we were interested in. I know a bit about a lot of things but I certainly don’t know everything about everything.

No matter, the time was right for me to write.

There’s no starting time in life for writing. You haven’t got to be there at age twenty one at nine o’clock sharp in the morning. You can make a start at any age and it doesn’t matter at what age you arrive at the keyboard, notepad or whatever form you use to write. You will get there at the right time for you and that’s the most important thing. Some may say that life experience makes you a better writer. To me that implies you should probably be older to write. But I have seen extreme nuggets of wisdom come out of the mouths of children so age is no barrier. An eighteen year old can be the bearer of an old soul with stunning insight into the world around them.

Another thing I do now is keep an online journal. I’ve been doing that for over a year. Just a few words on how the day has been, rather mundane ramblings about the weather, who has done what and been where. Hardly award winning stuff but its stuff I can look back on over the years to come.

And doing this writing thing when the time is right will mean you get far more enjoyment out of it and look forward to the clack clack of the keyboard as the words come tumbling out. It will flow better and certainly writing every day can only improve your style. It’s a bit like milking a cow. Generally a slow start, some fumbling about, the cow looking a bit impatient but then slowly and surely you crack the milking and get pretty fast at it and I liken the cow letting the milk down and flowing to those words appearing more quickly from the keyboard. Consistency definitely is key. The only difference being that you generally don’t build biceps by typing. You do by milking. You don’t get kicked either by typing. A cow however may be a different matter.

So to those of you thinking about writing, keep on thinking about it and one day something will click. The thinking will stop and the writing will start and then start flowing like the milk from the cow.

The time to write will be right for YOU.