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Howdy, Novelspotters. I’m going to talk with you this week about how I came to be in print. I write all over the spectrum with books published in three different genres. I started out with fantasy and science fiction, went on to westerns, and my latest is a historical mystery titled One Foot on the Edge, published by Treble Heart Books/WhooDoo imprint. A contemporary mystery is already in the works. As if that weren’t diversified enough, I also write the occasional short story, one of which, a western, is due out from the University of New Mexico press in the Western Writers of America Anthology this month, and I dabble in essays and articles.

With my genres so scattered, I thought I might start out by posing the larger subject of what makes a writer and why is s/he driven to see his or her words in print. Both these questions have both an easy answer and a hard one. If fact, this is kind of fun to think about. Let’s start with breaking the equation down and ask “who is a writer?” The easy answer? Practically everyone.

Didn’t think I’d say that, did you? But the truth is, from the time kids learn to read, they also need to write. Every child in school is, in some way, a writer. I wonder if I dare mention texting, which is the current favored method of communication, but does nothing to enhance proper sentence structure, spelling, or completeness of thought. Nevertheless, it is a form of writing and almost every young person knows the basic requirements. Look at those little thumbs go! Emails and messages on Facebook and Twitter zip back and forth at a frantic rate, and while they’re a bit like shorthand (is anyone old enough to remember what that is?) it’s still writing. Kids might as well resign themselves to the fact that from kindergarten until graduation from college and most probably beyond, they’re going to be writers. Imagine that!

So what is a writer? A writer is anyone who wants or needs to communicate, which nearly everyone does at some time in his/her life.

A slightly more difficult answer, but the one that comes first to my mind is this: a writer is a person who has something to say. Who knows but what a quick start with texting and Facebook and Twitter messages will involve into something larger, something with more meaning. Like a blog. Maybe on a guest blog like this one, or you’ll start one of your own. Some people are dedicated enough to write in their blog every day. It becomes an online journal into their lives and whether they know it or not, they’re writing history. You don’t have to be famous to write history, you know. Everybody’s life and take on the world is important. And everything one does is grist for the writing mill.

Personally, I hate to write letters and I’m horrible at it. I seize up like an engine out of oil when it comes to telling my friends what I’ve been up to. Short answer. Nothing. I’m clumsy and slow at texting. (Where’d they put that dang space key?) I’m a bit short when I answer emails. Good thing I don’t plan on saving any of that for posterity.

Then there are who write to teach. And those who write to preach. And people, like me, who write to tell lies. Yup. Only I call it writing fiction.

More on that tomorrow.