Why do I write? I think I do it mainly to channel the wildly whirling thoughts which are always in my head, the internal brainstorming that goes on and on and on all the time.   I write to get rid of the random phrase and snatch of unheard conversation, the image originating from last night's vivid dream.   I write to keep the nightmares away.   If they're captured on paper, or on the computer monitor, they perhaps won't trouble my sleep too much. I write to answer the questions: What if?  What happens next? How can they solve that problem?  Would it be funny if that happened?  Would if be scary if he went there?  How do I feel if I dare to say that?   I write because I love words,and language, jumbling them up in different combinations on a page to see how it looks and feels and sounds.

How do I feel when I'm writing?   Sometimes I feel completely uninspired, but I carry on anyway, and hope that the magic will start to flow.   When it does, I sometimes feel as if I'm flying, with words sparking from my racing fingers on the keyboard. Sometimes I'm so full of energy that I lose half an hour of my life, oblivious to everything, and read back over what I've written with enormous surprise.   My own writing can upset me, make me wonder what I meant, or sometimes make me cry with laughter.

Who do I write for?   For myself, mainly.  T o prove to my ever-doubting self that I can!    For my family and my friends, those who love me and believe that I do have a talent and have encouraged me to use it, but also those who never thought I had a coherent thought in my head and would never amount to much.  Maybe I still won't.    Maybe I also write to prove something to the people who sidelined me at school.   The people who still don't take me seriously because I'm always smiling, and daydreaming, and the tiniest bit ''weird''.

Well,  that's why I do it. How about you?

Author guidance for This exercise

Tell us why you write...

and don't forget to invite the next person to tell us too.

updated Feb 5 '10 by Tasha_Noble