I have come to the conclusion that in-between being a kid, a wife, a mom, single or married. Working for myself as an artist or a store owner or working for someone else, I have always been a writer. I have filled books with ideas and half started stories I have written poems and lyrics for songs. I have a million, trillion words inside of me that I want to share.
I have listened and asked questions. I have read a thousand books and I have come to the conclusion that everyone has a story worth telling. We all can learn lessons from each other and we all should really be writers. But I “get” that some people don’t have the “need” to share their stories. Their words are kept neatly in their brains! Thank you very much!
All of us have talents and weaknesses, sorrows and joy. We all beat to a different drum and so not everyone feels the same passion in their soul for the same thing another may. Which is a very good thing because not all teachers can design a building and not all Mechanics can assist in open heart surgery. But if it wasn’t squelched by life, most of us do have passion for something we want to be when we grow up, no matter how old we are. Some even get to get paid for doing whatever their passion is. But Passion is important. I feel so sad when I meet someone that never felt that kind of passion for something…. I have it. The kind that makes you get up in the middle of the night to write what is in your head or else you feel as if you will burst kind of passion. Sometimes it does get in the way of life. When I have to get up early for a job and I have been writing all night, it does not always happen at the most convenient of times…. But I am glad I have it. It is a gift that can make the whole world go away or bring it straight to my front door.
A singer has to sing. An actress has to act, an artist has to create, a dancer has to dance and a doctor has to heal. A carpenter has to build, a comedian has to cause laughter, a swimmer has to swim and a writer has to write! Like a florist in her garden who takes time to smell the flowers, a writer’s words have their own sweet aroma that only her soul can smell.
The One Thing I know For Sure 
I must happily report that I can feel your passion through your words. Genuinely. An excellent post that perfectly covers the scope and detail you chose. Bravo!
I have looked at a number of blogs and thought to myself, ‘This person is not a writer, not at all.’ We might all have a story but I don’t think we should all be writers. Perhaps there are some who look at what I post and think I should not be writing. I enjoy it and don’t care what each individual thinks, although I do try to do well.
You mention waking at night and needing to write something down. I have that feeling sometimes at 4 AM and grab my iPad from the nightstand and then quietly put it back down before I wake my wife who has such a hard time falling asleep. I have tented the thing at its dimmest level under the covers like a little boy reading a comic book with a flashlight.
It is also impossible for me to conceive of someone not having any passion. I didn’t do any writing for years and now that I’m on a self-imposed daily schedule I would burst if I did not wake up and immediately start writing, even sometimes starting before I get out of bed.
But to have no passion. For god’s sake at least have a passion for being lazy and make an art form out of it, making it so you have to minimize movements to reach for the TV remote or your can of beer. If I were that person I would strive to be the most magnificent lazy person on earth, working long hard yours getting everything ‘just so’ so I could do as little as possible.
You ARE a writer! And that is why this is such a gift… following you around my blog like this, hearing your words of wisdom… and your take on things here. It is like following someone special such as an art critic, around at a gallery with all your pieces displayed for all the word to see and getting to hear their comments!
Wow. I’m going to accept that “art critic” comment because I was so singularly good at commenting on everyone’s writing assignments while in college. It’s like that talent you never had and all of a sudden you can just do it without any training. The professors were really impressed and all I was doing was shooting from the hip.