Arlee's A to Z Challenge - The Writer is Hero

First of all -
I want to shout out a massive HURRAY to all of you bloggers who participated in Arlee's A to Z challenge.  Wow!  I'm impressed. 
You have made me laugh, commiserate, think, explore and learn.  You've taught me so much about writing it's mind-boggling.  You've allowed me to explore other cities, learn new crafts, fine-tune my writing skills and best of all - get to know you! 
You've proved how different we all are, even as writers and hopefully you've proved to yourselves how much you can produce on deadline.  An amazing feat and you all deserve some very special rest right now!

I could never have done it, even though as a former photojournalist, when I wrote upwards of 3,000 words every weekday, I don't think I could have pulled this one off.  Especially right now as I shift between two jobs, one job in mental health to another in a  head injury program.  I've also been living between two houses as I'm house sitting at a stone house which has become a wonderful writing retreat for me as well as my own house. And I'm in between two stories: my current novel in progress, Fireworks: Interference Equation and a steampunk short story which won't let go. 

Ouch!  Don't you hate/love those times when you have more than one choice?  When the horizons open up and the opportunities await?  Those times are magic and terrifying all at the same time. When you think about it, this is the life of a writer every time they sit at their keyboard.  Which way do I take my story?  Which way do I showcase my character? Which characters die and who falls in love?  It's a heady sense of power and creation, and also the crossroads which can lead us to sell our soul (or sell out our story) or make it to the other side:  the creation of something which never existed before on this plant.

Wow.  Writers as creators.  Writers as inspiration, writers as the voices for those who don't leave records behind.  Whether we write fiction or non-fiction, we do our species a service no other species can, we leave a record:  or our times, of our cultures, of our philosophies.  And as time seems to speed up and as the globe shrinks, it's even more imperative that we keep writing:  our viewpoint may be personal, our stories may seem to inhabit a small world, our tales may be subtle of blatant:  but either way, people now and in the future will always be curious as to how another human lives, copes, despairs or overcomes the experiences they encounter.  That's why we read, to discover things about people unlike us having adventures we coulnd't imagine and at the same time connect with those kernals of human nature, when we realize - wow, that sounds like me.  Or I'd probably react that way when going through such and such a scenario. 

So as much as we torment ourselves with our doubts as we work on various projects - we must also acknowledge how brave and courageous we are in putting our words, thoughts, dreams and nightmares out there.  Human beings have been hungry for stories ever since they first sat around campfire curious as to how the other fellow's day went.  It feeds our imagination and fuels our own development.  So pat yourself on the back every time you sit down at that white page and summon the inner essence which drives you to write.  It's both a torment and a gift - and the fact that you choose to utilize it is equal to any hero brandishing a sword, flag or even magic.  For you are the spellbinders, the story tellers -  the voice in the dark.