Sunday, September 16, 2007

Topic of the Week - Why do you write?


Why do I write? It’s a good question, actually, since spending your days fretting over the fate of imaginary people can leave you exhausted, broke, and half-crazed. But that’s actually why I do it. So that I can be only half-crazed. Because if I didn’t write, I’m pretty sure I’d be totally nuts.

Anne Lamott (and if you haven’t read her book, Bird by Bird, get thee to a bookstore,) said “ . . .writing is, for some of us, the latch that keeps the door of the pen closed, keeps [the] crazy, ravenous dogs contained,” and boy, do I hear that.

Besides all that, I love to read as much as I love to write, and after a lifetime of watching all those authors playing in the pool of creativity, it just seemed like it was time to dive in. I wanted to splash around in the shallow end, too.

And of course, no one tells you that it’s about as hard to quit writing as it is to stop eating M&M’s. Shoot, now I need to go find some candy . . .

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