Why I Write

Dominique Mainon 1970 - 2012

Today as I somehow ended up in the "sent" file of my email box, I happened upon an old email which linked to my stepdaughter, Dominique's blog.

Dominque was a writer, a filmmaker, a best friend, and my own personal court jester.

We met when she was thirteen and began a hilariously fun relationship that lasted decades.

She passed away from breast cancer seven years ago at age 41.

The time after Dominque's passing was the most difficult time of my life.

When I finally stopped sobbing and picked up the pieces of my life, I looked at what I wanted to do now that my muse was gone.

I'd kept journals all my life, wrote blogs, made up stories in my head, but what I really wanted to do was write fiction.

What did I know about writing books?

Sure, I could write up a storm in my notebook, I could write tantalizing day-in-the-life blogs about my daily workout routines or the latest smoothie craze I'd embarked upon.

But fiction? Didn't that require the skill of someone who lived in either New York or Los Angeles?

Then, I walked into my back room which was now floor-to-ceiling covered in books that I'd inherited from Dominque.

In the collection were a number of screenwriting books, tons of storytelling how-tos for filmmakers.

I looked at Dominique's life. She didn't let a lack of education stop her, a lack of money stop her and she certainly didn't allow geography to stop her. Okay, she actually did live in Los Angeles for a few weeks.

I felt her presence urging me on. Why not, thought I? Nobody gets out of this one alive anyway.

So I signed up for National Novel Writing Month which is a free symposium of writers all over the world who get together every November with the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel in 30 days.

I wrote my heart out and I gotta tell you. It was a total blast!

Today, as I looked through Dominique's blog and read some of her deep thoughts, I missed her all over again. It would've been so much fun to sit with her now and discuss story structure, character motivations, conflict, how to write a satisfying ending to a story, and all the other cool junk that writers geek out over.

For now, all I really want to say is thank you.

Thank you, Dominique, for lighting a fire inside me.

And I appeal to all of you, if you have someone in your life who inspires you, take their advice!