What does it mean to be 'married' to writing?

I want to keep writing.

That is why I 'married' writing. (Huh?)

It is okay to be unfinished. Just keep moving forward.

There are views you can only see by continuing. Once I knew that, I could no longer walk away.

Have I ever had anything in my life that I could keep doing for three years without seeing any results?

The act of writing is not just a task. It requires more patience than you might think.

As someone who wants immediate results, I had assumed that the steady, incremental process of 'continuing' was not for me before I even tried.

I am not good at doing things bit by bit. But 'writing' was special. I never wanted to let it go, so I decided to face it for at least three years. I felt that if I could do it for three years, it would be for life.

So, I desperately thought about how I could make it a natural part of my daily life. The result was marrying 'writing'.

After all, in marriage, you are together through sickness and in health, right?

Once I thought of it as a 'marriage,' I stopped wondering why I was writing when it wasn't even my job. And even when I felt impatient to get better, I was able to think that I could just enjoy it at the pace of the two of us—me and 'writing'.

Why do I want to be with it so much? When I think about that, the reasons come to mind immediately. It gives me peace of mind, provides me with insights, and helps me encounter my true feelings. 'Writing' is, for me, the guide of my life.

When I am with "writing," time melts away in the blink of an eye.

I am not good at being inefficient. I am what you might call impatient.

I feel like waiting for the elevator is a waste of time, so I run up the stairs instead. I want to take the shortest path. Before starting anything, I would carefully plan how to do it as efficiently as possible, hating to spend time on anything useless.

What about me now, having married "writing"?

I used to hate being kept waiting. I would sigh every time I looked at my number at the doctor's office. But it's different now. "It will take a little while," they say—and I actually get a little excited. I love the waiting time now, because my head gets filled with "writing."

I used to only look for shortcuts, but "writing" taught me that "taking the long way around is nice, too." Walking through life slowly while taking the long way. There are things you can only see because you are going slowly, and it taught me the joy of carefully capturing those moments.

When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I think about is "writing." What kind of day will I spend with "writing" today? I absolutely love the time I spend thinking about that.

No matter where I am, I am thinking about it. Oh, this would be fun to write about, or, even on days when something unpleasant happens, I think, I'll just let "writing" heal me. How should I cook up this event with "writing"? Imagining things like that is already my daily life.

I really have married "writing." Since we married, our children have been born: "Essay-chan," "Diary-chan," "Creative-kun," and "Illustration-chan."

I can't let go of this hand anymore. I will hold it for the rest of my life. After all, "writing" and I are still planning to have more children. Look, an idea is crying again. I have to give it some milk (= words).

Together with my husband "writing" and my best friend "drawing," I intend to enjoy our lively and somewhat chaotic household to the fullest again today.

I look forward to our future together, writing and drawing. And our children, too.