It’s I Love to Write Day. Yeah, I didn’t know it was a thing either, but now that I do, I’m all about it!

I started writing before I could even spell. Stories about unicorns and fairies and princesses. I would turn them into books and illustrate them (badly–drawing is definitely not one of my strengths).

In fifth grade I fell in love with poetry. Maybe it was because it was easy to sound wiser than I actually was. I even had two poems published in anthologies. (And by published I mean I submitted them to contests that I’m pretty sure accepted every poem they received. But hey, it was still cool to see my work in a book.)

I kept writing poems through high school, using it as an outlet for my all my teenage angst (and again trying to sound wise). I also got more serious about writing in high school. I remember writing a horror story sophomore year, just for fun, and giving it to my English teacher to get his opinion. And he had me read it out loud to the class. Now the thought of reading my work out loud is terrifying, but back then it was actually kind of fun. Senior year I took creative writing as an elective–and it was obviously my favorite class of the year.

When I started college, I was undeclared. I contemplated majors like social work, child development, education, and even nursing (until I realized I don’t have the stomach for it). Majors that would lead to specific jobs. But after a semester or two, I couldn’t deny what my heart was leaning to, and that was English.

And now, a few years later (okay, more than a few…) I have written an 87,000 word novel and am knee-deep in edits. I couldn’t get this far without a love, an obsession really, for the written word. Maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll see my books on a shelf at Barnes & Noble. But even if no one ever reads my work, I’ll keep plugging away on my keyboard, not because it’s easy or even fun all the time. But because to me, it’s as necessary as breathing.

So join me in celebrating this day. Write something, anything–whether it’s a simple sentence on a Post-it, a haiku, a song, a Facebook post, or the start of your very own novel. Just write. It might surprise you how much you enjoy it.