Why do writers write?

[karen_w_newton]

I find it interesting that so many people are writing books these days.  I'm sure people have always wanted to write books, but before there were computers and word processing, it was a heck of a lot harder to do.  I wrote a book--on a typewriter-- right out of college.  I'm not sure how long it was in words but it was at least a couple hundred pages.  I still have those pages. Buried in a drawer somewhere, a pile of marked up onionskin paper full of typos and, almost certainly, bad writing.  But I can still remember giving the story to the friend of a friend and watching him read it.  I sat there and watched the poor man turn pages, almost like I was watching the grass grow.  Eventually, I asked him how he liked it.  He put the pages down and said, "Oh, I forgot I was reading a story."  I felt a flush a triumph.  I had made someone forget he was reading.  I was hooked.

And so that's why I write.  That and because I have stories in my head that want out.