Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Is Writing in Your Family?

The other day, I was jotting a To-Do list in my writer's notebook (I know, lists of household jobs don't really qualify as writing but just bear with me), when I got thinking about my eccentric great-grandfather, who used to keep tiny notebooks full of lists. His lists were more about what he ate or the costs of things during his day. But now, as I consider my own obsession with writing-to-help-me-think, it makes me wonder whether he wasn't a writer that just didn't have the opportunity to write anything more than his lists.

I know I'm related to a magazine editor and an artist/writer, but maybe there are others. There must be  something about the way we think that makes us more inclined to write. Is it hereditary?

Are there any other writers in your family?

9 comments:

  1. My mom wrote a few plays, and kept a journal, but I don't know of any novelists.

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  2. A cousin. He wrote bad checks. Guess that doesn't count.

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  3. My dad was a journalism major, and ended up being an editor at the United Nations. My oldest daughter is a Creative Writing major. So, it's either genes or environment--probably both!

    ~Debbie

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  4. I've often wondered where I got my writing gene from -- no one in my immediate family has any writing interests...however there are a lot of storytellers. So maybe that's where I get it from...

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  5. My grandmother wrote poetry, and we still cherish her collection of poems. She also taught me to knit, and though that's off topic, it's fun to think of her as a creative person :-)

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  6. No writers in what I think of as my family, but I was adopted, so who knows? :)

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  7. Ha! David you're hilarious.

    Interesting, Matthew. Have you read any of your mom's work?

    Kenda, it is interesting to think about the creative side of some of the people in the family.

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  8. Wow, I think Google is finally going to let me comment as me! (I found out I had to uncheck the "stay signed in" box in my Google account.)

    I think certain temperament tendencies can be inherited, and those temperaments might lean to certain activities.

    My dad was a writer of sorts. He majored in journalism and published half a dozen or so magazine articles. Mainly he worked for a newspaper. And his mother was a storyteller.

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  9. Marcia, it sure sounds like you have some "writing genes".

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