Why I write

Back in May, I read a blog post by the amazing Kelly Rae Roberts and watched a video she wrote about. The video was geared towards business people and how they need to understand the "why" of their product. After watching it, I decided that I needed to figure out, for me, the reasons that I write. So, I did.

Then, last June when I was at the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (WIFYR) Conference (which was totally worth the $), Jennifer Hunt, the editorial director of Little, Brown Books for Young Readers told us in a plenary talk that we should figure out why we write.

Then, my friend Amy Jo, created a Why I Write meme, so I decided to write a post about it. And so, here are 5 of my reasons for writing. (My list is much longer than this, but I'll limit myself to 5.)

• Writing is sanctioned day-dreaming.
  
• When I write, I'm in control.
  
• When I'm writing, I feel like the real me. So many other times in my life I feel like I'm faking who I am.


• My writing will never deceive me. It will never turn in a poem by Shel Silverstein for an assignment and claim that it wrote the poem itself.

And here's the last one. This is one that I actually discovered at WIFYR.

• I write because I need to tell stories of girls and women who save themselves.
  

That's it. There are 5 of my reasons for writing.

So, why do you do what you do?