{"id":1216,"date":"2014-03-23T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-23T12:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/?p=1216"},"modified":"2014-03-17T21:10:07","modified_gmt":"2014-03-18T04:10:07","slug":"why-im-drawn-to-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/writing\/why-im-drawn-to-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I’m Drawn to Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

A carpenter and a seamstress<\/strong><\/p>\n

My parents made things. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"carpenter4\"<\/a>My dad built houses, sometimes alone, sometimes working with another person. In the early days, he and his partner did everything themselves: the concrete work, the plumbing, masonry, sheetrock, electrical work, and cabinetry. He\u2019d buy a vacant lot\u2014nothing but weeds between earth and sky\u2014and five or six months later his handiwork would stand ready for sale. <\/span><\/p>\n

He enjoyed his work so much that he often went back out to his shop after dinner \u201cto play.\u201d The products of his \u201cplay\u201d might be a new dollhouse for my sister and me or some stilts. Or it might be a motorboat. One year it was a 20-foot cabin cruiser. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"Mom<\/a>

Mom in a pantsuit she made (photo w\/ Uncle Jim and Dad)<\/p><\/div>\n

My mom was an excellent seamstress. She sewed most of the skirts, dresses, jackets, and pedal pushers my sister and I wore when we were growing up, and she still had time to make dresses for our dolls. She was also an artist. The oil paintings and watercolors that hung on our walls were hers (and my grandma\u2019s). She also made the china painted cups and saucers she brought out for guests, and the tole painted measuring spoon holder tacked up above the stove. <\/span><\/p>\n

Like most women of her generation, she not only cooked dinner for us every night of the week, she also served homemade cookies, cakes and pies for dessert. No one made a better apple pie. <\/span><\/p>\n

A blog post or a book may not be as tangible as a house or a dress, but writing does provide a similar satisfaction for me. From the clay of an unformed idea, I punch and shape and smooth until I have a story or post. <\/span><\/p>\n

Creating something: it\u2019s in my blood.<\/span><\/p>\n

Digging deep<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>

photo courtesy of C. M.<\/p><\/div>\n

Have you ever seen or experienced something that was too beautiful or significant for you to simply note and move on? Have you ever felt a touch of dissatisfaction upon reaching the viewpoint with the waterfall or the panorama of mountains\u2014not because it wasn\u2019t as stunning as you\u2019d expected but because it was, and then what do you do with all that beauty?<\/span><\/p>\n

What do<\/b> you do? You exclaim over it. \u201cWow!\u201d you say. \u201cLook at that.\u201d But your words sound pale when placed alongside the wonderful sight. So you snap a photo, but the photo doesn\u2019t really capture it. And there you are, left with the feeling of wanting to do more.<\/span><\/p>\n

I used to paint. Now I write. It\u2019s my attempt to dig a little deeper, to appreciate more fully the marvels of a life that rushes past all too quickly.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"my<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My dad was a carpenter; my mom was a seamstress. Creating something is in my blood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,4],"tags":[256,259,254,258,260,255,257],"class_list":["post-1216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-writing","tag-a-cook","tag-appreciation","tag-carpenter","tag-digging-deeper","tag-life-is-short","tag-seamstress","tag-why-i-write"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-jC","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5988,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/family\/easter-then-and-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":1216,"position":0},"title":"Easter Then and Now","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"April 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Back then, I wore a new dress every Easter. 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