Pen Your Own Pages

​I live in East Tennessee, and I spend a lot of time hiking and backpacking in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. We have a saying: Hike your own hike.

Some people hike fast. Others hike slow. Some put their head down and get from point A to point B. Some stop to take photos of flowers and waterfalls. Some backpackers carry twelve pounds of essentials, and others lug in forty pounds, including a camp chair and frying pan. There are hikers of all experience levels, fitness levels, careers, and backgrounds. Everyone has different goals and reasons for being in the woods.

We never judge others for differences. We let everyone do their own thing, hike their own hike. But at the end of the day, we're a big family. I have never met a fellow hiker who wasn't willing to go out of their way to help another hiker.

The same is true of writers.

We're all doing our own thing, writing our own stories. We're different, unique. We write different things, and we have different goals and expectations for our writing. Our writing processes are all over the board, and we're all at different stages in our journeys.

But the writing community is always, always willing to come together and support our own.

That's what "Pen Your Own Pages" means to me, and that's why I chose it for the name of my blog. Write your own story, in your own way. No one will judge you or try to change you. But when you need support or understanding, or when it's time to celebrate, the writing community will be behind you. Always.

​Happy writing, my friends.​​
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