Because I Had To…

…WRITE.   I am educated and “degreed” in the field of accounting, although I do have a minor in English.  I am aware that this is somewhat of an unusual combination, in particular since I received my business degree from a “business focused” University, making my zestful pursuit of 400-level English classes rather challenging.   By trade, I am an entrepreneur, having decades of experience in restaurants.  My decades of LIFE experience, however, have rendered me with the knowledge that at heart, I am a writer.  Putting words to paper, or rather, ink, which tell a story or create a feeling or elicit a giggle, simply stated, makes me happy.  And when you have an opportunity to, again, simply stated, do work which makes you happy, you DO IT! 

Currently, I work as a freelance writer.  I do not yet earn enough to pay for not only my occasional shopping splurges or dinners out, but also, I do not yet earn enough to pay for my bills.  So, I solve this problem by having another job.  It’s sort of like having the major and minor in college; one gives you the real job with the real pay and the other contributes to your well-being.  An intrinsic benefit of sorts.   I don’t mind working 50 plus hours a week, as long as I can eke out even 5 of those working hours for writing because the writing work never ever feels like work even though I completely treat it like work.  Writing is a part of who I am.  It doesn’t matter if I am writing a promotional piece for someone else’s business or a thoughtful note of regret in someone’s card, I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment for each piece of writing I produce.  I was copy editor for my high school yearbook eons ago (okay, that is a slight exaggeration).  When I look back on the short one-line captions I helped to compose, I chuckle today.  I still remember where I was and what frame of mind I was in when I wrote them.  Those quips, however, were not my first published work.  My first newspaper publication came when I was in the fourth grade.  It was a poem I wrote for my Mother for Mother’s Day.   My second newspaper article was an opinion piece I wrote when I was 16 about Bill Buckner’s bauble… YES, you read that correctly. 

I am beyond excited to now have a space and, more importantly, an opportunity, to share on a regular basis, my love of writing and storytelling.  My column will be aptly named “Because I Had To…” because there are many things, on a regular basis, I HAVE to do.  These things range from the basics like eating and sleeping to the specific, as in my tale here, of why writing is personal to me.  But as diverse as these things are that I, personally, have to do, I can assure you, that I will craft a short tale of interest, education, wit and candor that will resonate with a diverse population of readers, generally, and, perhaps, with a bit of luck, to you, specifically.

Kathy Naumann, possessor of NATURALLY curly hair and the understanding that you can’t control everything!