Joanna Young’s latest Group Project asks, why your love affair with writing?

I caught the writing bug at a very early age. In second or third grade I remember writing short stories and poems and putting them together in little booklets. I always seemed able to express myself better in writing than by talking, and I enjoyed the feeling I got when people enjoyed something I wrote.

My parents were big readers, and that definitely rubbed off on me. I read all the classics and especially enjoyed Edgar Allan Poe and horror stories in general. The more I read, the more I wanted to write. And it wasn’t just the pleasure of word craft, either. I loved the clacking of the typewriter (I used my mother’s manual, olive drab Smith Corona); sipping coffee and smoking a pipe as I pondered over my words (yes, I was smoking a pipe in junior high – don’t tell my mom); the heady discussions about literature with friends who shared my enthusiasm for writing; in short, I was in love with the idea of being a writer.

My first writing job was in high school, when I spent a few months as a stringer for the Colorado Springs Sun. Along with writing obituaries and wedding notices, I performed a variety of office activities such as tearing news stories off the wire and delivering them to the appropriate reporter’s desk. The reporters were fascinating — just like the ones I’d seen on TV and in the movies. Cynical though they might have been, they were always generous to me with their time and advice. They taught me a great deal about organizing ideas and writing them down.

Over the years my enthusiasm for the idea of being a writer has diminished, having been (thankfully) replaced by a more outwardly focused enthusiasm for helping other people craft their message. So many of my clients have great ideas, great visions, great plans. But transforming those ideas into concrete words that illuminate and persuade — well, that is something many people struggle with. Helping people clarify their thoughts is fun. Clear writing is the first step in creating a tangible product or service. It’s the starting point for overcoming a problem or identifying a goal. And it’s the first and sometimes most difficult hurdle in the pursuit of a business or life objective.

What I’m trying to say is that for me, writing is more than an intellectual exercise. It’s the oil that keeps the machinery of business running, yet in the business world, writing is a chore most people prefer to avoid. I’m glad I love it.