The Top 10 Joys of Writing, from mostly wine writers

The Top 10 Joys of Having Wine Writer Friends

I crowd sourced on Facebook for this one. Many of my friends’ stories were repeated, proving that we’re all part of the same tapestry. This story was inspired by my friend Pamela Kline… Number 1 below… when she declared the following and it got me to thinking. So, to satisfy my curiosity, I asked the following:

As a writer, what’s your greatest joy about writing?

1. You get to jump up and down with them, when they declare something like this:
   • “Okay, so I ignored my posts, and my friends, and my games, and my health, and my house, and my dog, the news, but not my girl. I stopped dusting and watering and cooking and shopping, but not the gym. I stopped listening to music, and talking and reading most stories, but not my book group picks. I did and did not do all this in service of a book that I have been writing for about three years now. I just finished the first draft of it, this moment, made my first reader cry. He is walking around shaking his head, speechless. It is a life story, told through the prism of 17 dresses. Now the real work of editing begins, but for the moment, there’s a kind of peace that makes me smile, and an energy that will allow me to clean out the coffee pots and sweep the floors.”
   • Pamela Klein of Some Feet Not Meant for Shoes
2. Validating all of the processes: Getting the story that’s bubbling from within to just be “out,” it’s such a relief!
   • Alissa Fehr Leenher: Finding the phrase, word picture, string of ideas to convey the sentiment or message that has been bubbling. Waking inspired and ready with the time and space to create. Knowing that it has been seen and known and been given life in another’s eyes. The relief and catharsis in getting it out.
3. Knowing that stories written remain timeless…
   • Tracy Cervellone: Looking at a finished piece, some time later, that I still really like.
4. They find their “deepest purpose,” said Steve Heimoff, and I know it’s true.
   • Gwendolyn Lawrence Alley What I learn about my subject in the process of writing about it followed swiftly by being able to share those insights and influence others.
5. Many of buddies’ purpose for writing is mentioned as their life’s purpose is, to educate. They know something and they’re driven to share. (That’s all I’ve even known, too.)
   • Taylor Eason My motivation has always been about educating on a subject. And then watching as the info soaks in. Fun!
6. Not only to educate, but to also create and inspire.
   • Alison Crowe: Helping someone learn something new that is really useful for them. Pure joy and mission accomplished.
   • Rich Mauro: I have enjoyed writing (and reading) ever since I was in middle school. It helped that I showed an aptitude for it. From the beginning, I have seen writing less as an instrument of self expression (though, it certainly is that); more as a process that facilitated learning, discovery and understanding. I don’t expect to dazzle readers or touch an emotional core. If that happens, it’s a bonus. I do hope to provide context and perspective that others will appreciate. I get the greatest satisfaction when others tell me they learned something new or came away thinking about a familiar topic in a new way.
   • Sondra Barrett, PhD: I love writing most of the time and the biggest joy, like Alison said, writing something that changes a person’s life or outlook, that confirmed what they knew, that inspires.
7. Independent souls… all.
   • Paul Gregutt: After years working in radio and television, both on air and in production, I turned to writing because it freed me from dependence on others, from the need for expensive technology, and from the rigors of a fixed work schedule. That remains my greatest joy.
   • Deborah Gray:  For me, writing is actually engaging in the pursuit that brings me the most pleasure and sense of fulfillment in life. I wish I’d discovered that many years before I did. I feel compelled to write; I cannot not write. Ideas, plots, characters, dialogue and story lines swirl around my head all the time and some of them make their way to the page as fiction. With non-fiction it is a desire to provide accurate information, insight and perhaps inspiration for others, to enable them to move forward in their own career choices.
   • Norman Albers: I cannot proofread my own mathematics, hardly.
8. All of them are so great at the entire process, so they inspire me:
   • Michele Anna Jordan: Probably the single most joyful aspect is crafting a sentence I love, turning it into a paragraph and then a story that expresses exactly what I wanted it to. Nearly as joyful is the process of discovery I go through as I am writing narrative, the way I learn what I think and what I want to say as I write. It is quite magical and I live for it. Connecting with readers and all that comes with it is deeply satisfying, as well, but it is the art of narrative prose that brings me the most joy.
9. Filling a need yet fulfilled:
   • Pamela Heiligenthal: In the late 90s, I saw a need to generate an independent wine source to open the communication between writers and readers. I didn’t like the one-directional model where writers penned articles with no way for readers to engage with the writer. In 1999, I built my own content management system and hooked it to an online Internet forum to allow enophiles to engage with wine pros.
     It became very difficult to build and maintain the site while keeping the trolls and spammers off the site. So I abandoned the prototype a few years into the project. In 2003, WordPress came to fruition, and I knew this platform would revolutionize the way we would communicate with readers. My greatest joy about writing is having that engagement with the reader, and having the freedom to write what I want with minimal editor oversight and control. This is what this platform brings—the ability to publish content quickly with little oversight, and engage with readers in a meaningful way. This is why I write and why I care about sites like-Enobytes—to bridge the gap between consumers and wine industry professionals and to promote the exchange of ideas between pros and enthusiasts alike.
10. The end product and relief are great feelings.
    • Eric Arnold: Finishing the job so I don’t have to write for a while.
      • BOOK: First Big Crush ~ It’s a dirty love affair
    • Walt Perry: Love the self-editing process almost as much as a positive reception.
    • Tim Fish shared this image, and qualified it (every writer knows this one well… don’t even let the phone ring!)… “When you’re on deadline…”
    • Virginie Boone Hitting send.

The End!