Writing - Natural or not?

The biggest question in the book... well second only to - How do you get past the blocks?... That one however is for another day.

So let's get back to this post. My question is - Does writing come naturally to you, or do you find you have to work to get somewhere with it?

First of, before I answer this, let me tell you where the question arose from. Those that follow me here, may also be regular posters in certain groups on Facebook. I had been looking in one of these groups the other day, with friends I've made from my first year attempt at NaNoWriMo. Any way, from that group a question was posted, and it's the question you see here. To question our own beliefs and how it works for ourselves, in my opinion, creates a better understanding of what it is that we writers undertake.

So - Natural or not?

For many years I appreciated the world of words, the pictures they painted, the tears, the love, and the heartbreak. But never once in that time period did I ever consider myself to be a writer, nor did I even consider it as a possible choice in life. You see, I really disliked english in school. It was far too... formal, and felt very restricted. I didn't see how we could learn to be creative, when we had to stick to what set. There was no room to breath, no passion to inspire us. It's all fair and well, reading the age old classics, or newer releases and then have us explore the book and review them, and then change topic or subject matter so quickly. Even during the exams, there wasn't much room to show creativity, instead we had to base our work on what had been taught.

What ever happened to originality and allowing us to explore our own minds and working with us from there? ... I guess those that taught us, or those that set out those teaching plans, considered it best we learn those values and be forced to learn what was dictated.

You see, this is where I have problems. This is the reason it has taken me so long to pick up a pen and explore the creativity in the mind. This is where it has taken so long to re-awaken the imagination that once thrived as a child, left dormant through regulations.

I started small with a poem here and another there. For three years I flowed with poems, but then it didn't feel enough, I wanted to further but with what, I didn't know at the time. Then after the passing of a dear friend of mine, one whom I had never met person but knew online for a good three years, it made me think about what I wanted. And knowing that she loved the story that was being written, has enouraged me to keep on writing. To allow the mind the freedom to explore every known nook and cranny, oh and the unknown ones waiting to be found.

So does it seem natural or hard for me to write?

Well I certainly feel it's a mixture of both for myself. Some days it seems as natural to write as it is to walk, to breath and to live. Other days it's almost like your trying to bring down a ten story wall with only a needle as your tool in which to do so. One minute those words we live for, will flow like a river that's flooded its banks and the next, they'll be as dry as the Sahara Desert, where days, weeks, or even months could pass without any inspiration to write.

I know I haven't been writing as long as others, but some take time to see that it's a path they should be following and I feel now that it could be path for me. Writing however, I find therapeutic if anything else in life.

It may not be the most creative, or detailed of writers out there. Heck, I may not even have original thoughts on where to go with it all, but isn't that all part of the fun? Isn't it part of the long lived passion that burns through a writers veins?

What ever the answer may be, I know that for this writer, the love of writing, or reading, runs deep through my soul. There may come a time where I may say, enough is enough and I'm done. But then again there may come a time where my dreams come true and that my writing has stepped up a gear.... Okay so I'm dreaming, we're allowed to dream.

But now I ask you, the very same question as posted here within this blog.