Otherways- Fiction Fanatics

This is a question that comes up pretty much every time I tell someone I'm a writer. Well, either that or some variant of "Couldn't you get a real job?".I wish I had a brilliant, simple answer, but the fact is, I don't. Every time someone asks me, I feel like they've asked me why I breathe, but I'm going to try, one more time, to explain my compulsion.

The one thing non-writers seem to understand about my job is the freedom it gives me to schedule the rest of my day. Of course, I'm not sure they quite get the number of hours it takes in front of a keyboard to churn out a novel or three, let alone daily blog posts and editing, but  that's to be expected. Freedom is a huge factor in making writing my life, especially given my other addictions: riding and farming, both of which tend to sponge up any available daylight hours. Being able to move my schedule around is a huge benefit, but it isn't why I do this.

I do it because I can't not do it.

The voices in my head, quite reasonable when expressed on paper, are impossible to live with when confined in the tiny prison of my cranium. Through writing I have a chance to explore the ideas in the world around me, play with the boundaries of reality, and become everything I either wished I was, or feared I might be.

Very few people come through this life unscathed, no matter what facade they choose to present to the world. We all have our scars, our overriding fears, our demons. Not everything I write is autobiographical, in fact, much of it isn't, or at least not obviously so. Every bit of it though, is pulled from somewhere inside me, sometimes with joy, and sometimes with blood and tears.

Creation isn't always a gentle process, but to leave those things unborn inside you, to let them die and fester, that is unthinkable.

So the answer, dear friends, is that I write because I must. I cannot contain all of the people, concepts, and worlds that continue to be born inside me. The fact that this might bring someone pleasure, or ease their pain, or just entertain them a little is the biggest bonus of all.

Cheers,

Michelle