Unexpected Benefits from Writing

Have you ever wondered why you are going to all the trouble of writing? Silly question, huh? Probably every single one of us writer's has asked ourselves that question. After all, it takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. Unless you're a genius, you don't sit down and write a perfect story in five minutes. And if you do... CALL ME! I want to learn your secret!

Instead, it takes hours, days, weeks, months, and even in some cases, years! We have to put aside a lot of things to get the mission accomplished. Like ignoring the dirt in our houses, looking at the sad faces of our dogs because Mommy doesn't have time to walk them. Listen to our kids whine and throw hissy fits because we can't stop everything and play a game with them.

So sometimes we wonder, "What the heck am I getting out of writing?" Let's face it, unless we are lucky enough to get noticed like the J.K. Rowling's of the world... we'd all be starved to death by now if we had to live on solely our book sales.

However, in my case I've gotten a lot more out of writing than I ever imagined. Not only do I feel like I've really achieved something by getting published but my vocabulary has really benefited! Before I began my writing career, I could barely answer any questions on a crossword puzzle. Even the easy crosswords were a huge struggle for me. I was constantly looking up the answers in the back. But now... I whiz right through them (well the easy ones anyway).  By writing everyday, I've learned the meaning of more words and their synonyms. I must admit, crosswords are a lot more fun these days!

I've learned patience, which I barely had any of before. It's still hard to wait, wait, wait but it doesn't kill me anymore. I just move on and try to focus on something else.

Another valuable lesson has been to accept rejection with a better outlook. Just because one person doesn't like something I do, doesn't mean it's wrong, doesn't mean it's bad, it just means that was that one person's opinion. My life isn't over for it anymore!

I've become more aware of my surroundings, especially when a kid is around. I don't want to miss out on a great opportunity for a story idea!

I still struggle with trying to sell myself but I'm getting better and stronger. If you don't tell the world you are a writer and have a product to offer that they might be interested in, than they'll never know.

Writing has taught me to stop sweating the small stuff. When something is bothering me, I've learned to put it aside, go write and stop stressing about things I can't control!! I'm definitely not 100% good at that yet though and probably never will be. But it's definitely gotten better!

To me, those are some of the benefits that have made all my hard work more than worth it. How about you? What benefits have you gotten from writing?