Why do I write?

It’s a loaded question for any author because everyone has a different reason. I’m not in it for the money or the recognition that comes with writing. There’s not just one reason why I’ve chosen this path for myself. I couldn’t even narrow the list down to the top 10 reasons why. Instead of my top 10, here are the 25 reasons why I write!

1. No one listens to me unless I make them.
2. The worlds I write about belong to me. I want others to enjoy it.
3. People told me I could, and I believed them.
4. I don’t know how to do anything else.
5. The voices in my head deserve to be heard.
6. There are some things I don’t think I can say out loud.
7. I want to know what happens next.
8. My characters might kill me in my sleep if I didn’t write about them.
9. I’m the person I wish to be in my head.
10. I’m in love with worlds that don’t exist anywhere but in my head.
11. Someone out there desperately needs my story.
12. I want to create something magical.
13. My brain won’t shut up.
14. I have so many stories to share with the world.
15. It’s a way of working through my own grief.
16. There’s a storm inside me that I can’t settle.
17. Stories are the one thing I don’t have to compromise for someone else.
18. I am lucky enough to have something that I want to say.
19. Stories are more than just words on a page.
20. There are some feelings you can’t work out any other way.
21. Feeding people to dragons isn’t realistic when I’m mad.
22. I don’t want to forget the way words make me feel.
23. The world deserves to know what I think about them.
24. No one can tell me what to write or how to write it.
25. Making people act out the stories in my head is kidnapping.

Writing makes me feel like I’m a part of something bigger than this life. It gives me a purpose and reason to keep going when I don’t feel like getting out of bed. I don’t write because I want to. I write because I have to.