Why I write.

Words and photo (c) Simon Cook 2017

"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

― Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

If you look at my posts on the web, you probably think my first love is photography – but to be honest, I’ve only just discovered the delights of photography. My first love is writing.

I’ve been an amateur writer ever since I could write; I always was an avid reader, and loved the stories by Enid Blyton – they stretched my imagination and let me live, at least for a few hours, in a different world. There was something about being in the mind of another person and seeing what they saw that really appealed to me.

Some of my favorite memories of early childhood were of writing stories for my English class and having the teacher read them out in class. I vividly remember my teacher asking the class whether she should stop reading, but the class shouted ‘no’, they wanted to hear the end of my story.

It was very thrilling for me to see the joy I was able to give other children with my stories and my words – my teacher once complimented me by telling me I was a natural story teller. For some reason I never ran with this, and headed for a career in accounting and computing – sure I am talented in these, but they truly do not give me the same thrill.

The result over time is that I still love writing, and have self-publishing novellas and poetry – however, with no formal training I understand that even if I am a very good story teller, I will never succeed as a writer unless I learn how to write.

What is interesting is that this truly does not bother me – I write for myself, and if a few other people end up being thrilled by what I write, then great – the key for me is to create something that I am proud of, and that I can say ‘I did that’.

“If there's a book that you want to read, but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.”

― Toni Morrison

Like my photography, I like to try and be unique with my writing. I take a genre that I love, and then twist it so that it becomes something different – it still has all the expected elements, but I throw in something of Simon.

It’s this method that keeps me interested and keeps me trying. As long as writing stays interesting then I’ll tap away at the QWERTY keyboard – and who knows, one day I may create a masterpiece!

Until then, I’ll combine my love of writing and love of photography and keep myself amused!