A Writer

A Writer 

By John W. Vander Velden

 

When I look in the mirror, too seldom do I see beyond the graying hair and the changes that years have done to my personal landscape.  Too seldom do I consider the countless pieces that make up this man.  For I, like all others, am a complex collection of titles, husband, father, farmer, a man of faith, the guy that takes photographs, and a writer.  That is but part of the list of the oddly shaped pieces of the collage that when fitted together make…me.

A writer…What does a man that has farmed for more than forty years have to say?  More than I can have ever imagined.  Does what I say have a real value?  I can only hope.  Each task takes tools, but it is in the hands of the craftsman that tool yield those tasks completion.  Writing is about more than pen and paper, more than keyboard and screen, the real tools are the words themselves.  I do not consider myself a craftsman of language.  Rather I clumsily assemble bits and pieces in the hope that once in a while something comes out of the blender worth sharing.

It was a grand step to come to the point where I called myself a writer.  To acknowledge, to myself, at last that the hours spent deserved that title.  A journey of years and thousands of pages that led me at last to that place.  Writing is in so many ways a solitary endeavor.  One person against the blank page.  In so much of my life it has been me against “whatever”, and being the sole warrior does not frighten.  But there remains the need for a “companions in arms” that understand the “war” waged with the empty white space.  I have filled that need with friends…comrades in the battle…my writing group as well as other writers that live far and wide I have met in the attempt to grow my craft.  Each of these companions come with their own voice, each telling their stories as only they can.  Perhaps this is the greatest gift they can share…the knowledge that I don’t have to sound like anyone else.  They remind me that, when it comes to my stories, not everyone will “get it”, and that’s alright.  Each have taught me valuable lessons…lessons of craft…but also lessons in self…to believe in myself, as a person and a writer!

(405 Words)                6-19-2015