Years ago, a guest in our home asked about my interests and recent pursuits. I told her I was writing a book.
“Oh, there are so many books!” she said.
In her opinion, the world did not need any more books.
With all the current means of communication and entertainment, she is probably not alone in her conclusion.
I have always wanted to write and I felt honored to be chosen to be part of the first Write Team 20 years ago, shortly after 9/11.
I have enjoyed writing ever since I was a little girl.
At Ottawa High School, I was co-editor of the school paper, The Buccaneer, along with my friend Betty Stevenson.
Robert Burns was our teacher and adviser. During high school, I wrote a few articles for The Times. (Then known as the Daily Republican Times)
And yes, I have written a couple of books: “Who Am I Now?,’ published in 2007, and “Carole’s Columns,” published in 2017.
At the first writer’s conference I attended, “Write to Publish” at Wheaton College, the conference leaders told us to “Go home, get business cards and call yourself a ‘writer!’ ”
It was also at that conference I got my first writing assignment.
I enjoy being with other writers and I am looking forward to the second annual Lit Fest that Prairie Fox Books is planning in Washington Park on Oct. 16.
So with all the new means of communication, why do writers still write?
Jonathan Isbill, MS, RD, LD writes in “7 Reasons Why Writers Write, and You Should Too” it’s a “desire for a shared relationship – a desire to ‘connect,’ a leap of blind faith, releasing inner thoughts and feelings, to create something that will always be attached to you.”
Writers write to “connect.”
When COVID-19 was new, I remember writing in one of my columns that I had to “drag out my brush rollers” because my hair salon was closed. Weeks later at the grocery store, a woman I didn’t know recognized me as the person who wrote that in a column. She looked at me, smiled and said, “Brush rollers.”
We laughed. We connected. I loved it.
It’s rewarding to know people read my columns and find connection. I think that describes it for me.
So, if you have thought about signing up for the next Write Team, I would say, “Go for it!”
• Carole Ledbetter of Ottawa is the author of two books, “Carole’s Columns” and “Who Am I Now? Growing Through Life’s Changing Seasons,” and is a speaker consultant for Stonecroft Ministries. She can be reached at dbarichello@shawmedia.com.