Writers Come in all Shapes and Sizes

When I stepped into the room, I almost walked right back out. Half the chairs around the table were filled with men and women in their late 80s. I thought that there was little chance that I would find my new writing group here, amongst this crowd. How could people of such different backgrounds, such different age groups, possibly have anything in common with me?

I swallowed my disappointment and took my seat for the presentation. I hadn't come for the topic, Writing in Cyberspace, but I found myself captivated watching the youthful speakers explain the power of the blogosphere to an audience interspersed with people who could remember a world without television.

When the group's organizer stood up to make the concluding remarks, I was thinking about the long ride home ahead of me. He asked what he said was his usual question, whether anyone had any successes to share.

The woman in the pale pink suit who raised her hand seemed to be the oldest in the group. All eyes turned to her as she started to speak, her voice shaking with emotion. She held up a glossy magazine called Cappers and announced that they had published one of her stories. Her right hand rubbed reverently the letter Cappers sent her along with her $35 payment. Her face glowed as she told us, "I was ever so thrilled to get that check with my name on it."

I found myself choking up as I listened to her success story. I realized that all writers, regardless of age, gender, or background, share the same hunger. A hunger to share our words, to be heard, and to be recognized. A hunger to be published. We are bonded by our insatiable drive to commit what we see, what we feel, and what we imagine to the page.

The hunger to write can strike at any point in our lives. Some of us have felt it since we were children, writing feverishly in our diaries after lights out, while others picked up the pen later in life. We may look and sound incredibly different, but we share an understanding of the work, a reverence of the words, and when we come together, we give each other the recognition and support to continue to strive to be writers.

Tonight's Sunday Scribblings prompt is hungry. Head on over to see what other's did with the prompt.