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Five a.m. Sunday morning and here I am again, alone at my desk, staring at a computer screen.
This is where I love to be! In the quiet inspirational night when thoughts come so richly that I forget to sleep.

Writers write. Some write endless streams of praise. Others sit motionless for hours and then a three-line haiku emerges. I haven't decided yet which kind of writer I am. Either, depending on my mood. Sometimes music and art are so overwhelming beautiful that my response has to be in the briefest of terms.

A word smith is a person with a sure sense of craft. This person looks at words like a cook looks at apples - with a sure understanding of which ones are best for pies, which for eating, which are best left on the tree. I remember elementary school, 6th grade, when we made a word tree. A dead branch came to life with colorful leaves cut from paper, each leaf bearing a word based on a Latin root. When it was my turn, I went home with a handful of leaves and my Latin root, joyously seeking all the possible words that could be created from that room. The next day the tree burst into foliage with my words. The experience was a satori - a mini-epiphany.

Some people find it fun to play basketball, to cook, to paint. The writer finds it fun to write, to use words.

A writer should also be an editor, able to pick and choose, correct and perfect, eliminate errors and find the most succinct and apt expression possible. Unfortunately some people try to edit and write at the same time - an approach which often leads to speechlessness. Editing is important, but it is not the same as writing. It should be done after the writing, not at the same time.

Successful writers have perfected the hard balance of editing and writing. And they have found the "room of their own" (to paraphrase Virginia Woolf) where they go to work on a regular basis, where the telephone doesn't ring and the family doesn't intrude. This precious sanctuary is an essential tool for a writer. It may even be a mental sanctuary, but a closed door works better.

Writing may be hard work, but it is rewarding, even when it doesn't pay in dollars and cents.

Learn more about this author, Norma Jean Bishop.
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