“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.”  – Mark Twain

I found my “why” in July 2019. I felt drunk, giddy, and overwhelmed but I couldn’t stop. It was my cherished secret. Did I have plans to share it? I wasn’t sure, but I was excited. It felt like the first glimpse of presents under a Christmas tree. This present was wrapped with a colorful bow, gilded paper and precision. I didn’t know whether to rip it open or carefully tug each fold and piece of tape.

The story had percolated in my brain for months. It was about a sweet meet cute in a coffee shop. A girl named Daisy who was getting over a breakup with a man named Simon. She had moved to South Korea as an English teacher to heal. One night, she saw a handsome stranger in a coffee shop who piqued her interest. His name was Jihoon. They spent weeks watching, and wondering about each other. The story evolved into a meet cute. They met, fell in love and lived happily ever after.

It wasn’t good writing. Choppy, full of echoes, telling instead of showing; all kinds of mistakes. I just wanted to see where I could take the characters. I got caught up in action and decided it had a Kdrama (Korean drama) feel to it.

I broke down and shared the story with a friend who cheered me on. (I think she was being kind.) Several months later, I plopped 100 pages in their inbox and I took off from there. Her comment after reading it was, “Wow, you’re becoming a writer.”

My nephew (who is an AP Language teacher) was next. Once he read it, he offered me ideas and inspired me to write more. He said I had some talent and liked my dialog. Encouraged, I kept at it. We discussed where I could find out more about writing and off I went. Google searches and YouTube tutorials were my BFFs. I became passionate. I turned it into a book and by May 2020, I had a VERY rough draft.

Writing has been my personal hero. I was living in a deep, dark space in my head. It helped me come out of it. Writing gave me something to look forward to each day. Since July 2019, the first thing I do everyday is write. The white noise of the morning helps me focus and off I go. I write for my blog, answer group questions about writing, pose my own questions and write my novel. (FYI…I just started Book 2.) It has kept me sane through a few very rough years.

Writing has really become my why. I feel like as the quote from Mark Twain says, I found out my reason “why”.