Guest Blogger Three: Why I Write

Terry Needham

Terry was a reader of my blog who contacted me and asked if I'd review his book if he sent me a copy. I agreed and he sent three different books--a poetry collection, a children's book and a fine memoir about his uncle. He lives and writes at Lake of the Ozarks, MO. His short, but heartfelt, response to my questions is below along with his credits. 

1. Why do you write?

2.  What does it satisfy within?

3. How do you keep your passion for writing alive and well?

Terry's Response

Why do you write?

I write to express the love I have known from my mother, father, aunts and uncles, grandparents, brothers and sisters, and friends and lovers. Each one conjures up a set of memories, and stories, that percolate within me, until I release them into space on the printed page . . . to be shared with anyone who cares to read.

2.      What does it satisfy within?

Sharing my memories that are rooted in love is my way of spreading the love I feel to others, and giving those stories permanence, to last as long as anyone cares to read what I have written.

3.      How do you keep your passion for writing alive and well?

As long as my memories last, I shall feel the love they conjure up, and thus the urge within my passion to spread the love is nourished.

This is a poem I wrote years ago that also answers these three questions, in the spirit of humor and writing for the sake of writing.

Unreasonable

I did not write this poem . . .

                to make money.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to be funny.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to be cool,

I did not write this poem . . .

                to be cruel,

I did not write this poem . . .

                to just profess.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to just confess.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to make you glad

I did not write this poem . . .

                to make you sad.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to teach a lesson.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to keep you guessing.

I did not write this poem . . .

                to have a ball.

I wrote this poem ---

                For no reason at all!

© April 22, 1994 T. L. Needham

BIO:  

 Terry Needham started writing and publishing when in the real estate business. He came home to Kansas City to write a book: Winning and Keeping Relocation Business, he then founded a national news magazine: Relocation/Realty UPDATE, and became a national consultant, speaker and trainer on real estate and corporate relocation issues. His publishing firm also published a Who’s Who in Relocation directory and regional newsletters for Habitat for Humanity. Needham also owned and published Kansas City Parent magazine, and published many other periodicals including five local Bar Association newsletters.

 In retirement, Needham became a full-time writer and in 2008 he published a collection of poems—PESKY POEMS, which won a READERS FAVORITE SILVER MEDAL award; and in 2010 published a historic memoir—When I Was A Child, which won USA BEST BOOKS Award, a READERS FAVORITE BRONZE MEDAL award, Honorable Mention Award-Writers Digest, plus the Best Cover award, plus a GOLD MEDAL from eBook Global Awards; and in 2012 he published an illustrated children’s Christmas story-poem—KITTY CLAUS, which was awarded a GOLD MEDAL by READERS FAVORITE; then in 2014 Needham published a novella—The She Wolf, which received an HONORABLE AWARD from READERS FAVORITE.

All of Needham’s books are available at his website: http://tlneedham.com/;

Or on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/author/tlneedham;

or email Needham direct @ needham@accessus.net