How might a musician answer the question, “Why do you play?” What would an artist reply to, “Why do you paint?”
My fascination for the written word began early in life. At the tender age of eleven, I submitted a short story to the children’s column of the Oakland Tribune, and won top honors.
Over the years, I learned that many of my co-workers found writing tasks to be near insurmountable challenges, in the same category with public speaking. They often appealed to me to assist them with correspondence to clients. I welcomed the opportunity to edit their work and advise them on composition, sentence structure and tone. I sometimes wondered how they missed the most obvious lessons of high school English class. It always felt so natural to weave thoughts into words on the page. I even wrote articles for the company newsletter. The advent of word processing made the already pleasurable activity even more enjoyable.
That’s not to say that I don’t struggle with writer’s block from time to time. I marvel at my writer friends’ ability to “write every day.” My muse visits on her own unpredictable schedule. But without fail when offered an idea or a topic, I experience a tingle of excitement at the opportunity to work a little word sleight of hand.
Why do I write? I write simply to satisfy my desire…and to create a little magic.