A friend asked me recently if I would still write books, even if nobody bought any of them. My answer? “Yes!”
Why? Because writing is what I do.
Writing for me is a way to process things, to ask questions and explore possible answers to those questions, to attempt make sense of the world around me.
Some people process their circumstances physically – they run marathons, or play on sports teams, or work out at the gym. Some process the world artistically – they encounter grief and write a song, or they see something beautiful and paint a picture, or they read the news and transpose it into dance.
And for some people – people like me – writing is the language by which we engage with those around us and with the world. Writing is a was to process and to connect.
I guess you could put it this way…
I did not decide to become a writer, and then start writing. Rather, I found myself writing, and realized then that I was a writer.