| There are many reasons people feel drawn to | | | | would be writing anyway. It's like the woman who |
| write. Why did the first of our ancestors pick up | | | | came up to me at my garage sale two weeks |
| some burnt sticks and scrawl images on cave | | | | ago and asked, "How much is that cat tower?" |
| walls or make marks on wood and stones in the | | | | "You mean the one with the big 'FREE" sign on it?" |
| forests of the Celtic isles? My experience tells me | | | | I said. "Since it's free, I'll give you a dollar to haul it |
| that there are two elemental reasons people | | | | off, but that is as high as I'll go... okay, I'll give you |
| write: | | | | two." |
| 1. To learn more about themselves or their world. | | | | In other words, most of us would write anyway, |
| The writer E. M Forester once said, "How will I | | | | or pay people to be able to write. And, in fact we |
| know what I think until I see what I say?" | | | | do, if you look at the money we spend on |
| 2. To release some creative impulse that is inside | | | | supplies, computers, books on writing and |
| of them. Another way to say this is, to entertain | | | | conferences. But then again, if we weren't writing, |
| the self or others. Writing then, is to educate or | | | | what would we be doing to make sense of our |
| to entertain. | | | | worlds and get these pesky stories and feelings |
| Of course this is a simplification, but writing is | | | | out? Alas, it is the curse of the writer, to write, |
| something that seems more than a distraction for | | | | always to write. But what a splendid curse indeed. |
| people who are bitten by the writing bug. In fact, | | | | I'll pay my two dollars for that cat tower. |
| people who are "writers" - published or not - | | | | |