Why do we write?

Why do we write? I think the short answer is because we can’t help it.

I began to tell stories less than a year ago. Since then I’ve not stopped, and although two are longer, most would be classed as novellas, having under forty thousand words. I finished my fifth on Friday morning. It’s a first draft, of course. I tucked it up in its little folder and thought I’d start to give it a first read-through on Monday.

Who do I think I’m kidding? Early last week I jokingly said I was going to write a horror story next. The following morning, the wisps of a tale were winding through my morning brain and by the time I’d had breakfast I had the outlines of another story. I asked myself if I could wait until November for NaNoWriMo, the clunkily titled National Novel Writing Month. I wrote my first novella last November.

Fat chance. I couldn’t even wait till next week!