Reasons I Write

Apparently there are people in this world who so lack self-confidence that they are ever ready to discourage any person whom they perceive to lack skill from writing.

At least, someone in an SNS group where I participate posted someone else's post that apparently responded to such criticism.

I'm not going to point out all the questions such an attitude must inevitably beg, but I will, just for the record, extract a small quote from the pseudo-author's forward to my current windmill tilting project:

There are five reasons I write:

• I hope that one day my children will read some of them, and come to a better understanding of their strange dad.
• Maybe, even if not very many people read my work, there will be someone who will profit from having read something I have written. 
• Writing, especially extended writing, helps me improve my ability to express myself.
• Writing fiction is like doing scratch calculations in math. It gives me a chance to explore ideas and choices the real world does not or did not allow.
• Writing can be therapeutic.

Whether or not these are good enough reasons for you to read what I write, these are good enough reasons for me to write.

Case in point --

The chapter I'm currently working on in the story I linked above includes an interview for an internship. I'm effectively interviewing my twenty-one year-old self. Learning (relearning?) some things about myself that seem to surprise me. (I'll try to remember to come back and link that chapter here when it's done. Here.)