Writing inspiration from – ‘I Wrote It Anyway’ – An Anthology of Essays

It’s November! So many challenges taking place this month across the world, and across different categories! There’s the men health awareness month called , Movember, lots of runs and marathons, the challenging NaNoWriMo for budding writers, to name a few.

After enjoying my holidays in October, I decided to try and do an extreme November and focus on all things productive. It has been 4 days in now, and the only thing I have fallen behind so far is my running practise. But that is not what this post is about. It’s about a book I read recently.

I wrote it anyway is an anthology of essays written on writing, edited by Dal Kular and Caroline Donahue. This book contains 29 essays written by writers, based on their own stories and their own reasons on why they write. Why they love writing, inspite of and despite of and because of. Why writing is therapeutic for them. How writing means different things to different people.

If you are looking for inspiration from people you can relate to, in addition to the books on writing from famous published authors, or pep talks by NaNoWriMers who have been successful, this book is a gem to read and own.

I’m sure there would be at least one story that would resonate with you and inspire you from this collection of stories. There are writers here who have shared their struggles with different forms of mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression and bipolar disorders and how they have used writing as therapy. There are authors who have shared their fears or stories of abuse – mental, physical or sexual, who have used writing to come out of that darkness and face the world again. There are authors who are working crazy hours, or are working mothers, or are taking care of their ailing parents suffering from cancer and who still make time to write, because ‘I don’t have time‘ just isn’t an excuse for them.

Don’t mistake this book as a writing guide though. There may be one or two essays which provide some insights on how to write daily or make time for writing, but overall, the essays are on why we write, or why people write, instead of the how. So keep that in mind when you decide to buy or borrow the book.

All in all, I would recommend this little book, if you’re looking for some inspiration to get you through any writing that you want to do – be it the scary NaNoWrimo, or just daily journaling, you’ll find at least one story that will inspire you to ‘Write it Anyway’ 🙂