I have often wondered what makes a writer write. What is it that compels one to put pen to paper and pour one's heart and soul into a piece of writing? It is a pretty stark act and one that leaves the author exposed and vulnerable. I feel fairly certain that most of us would not remotely consider casting aside our clothes and running naked into the streets at high noon, but aren't we basically doing this when we write?

I greatly admire those who have full blown characters of all varieties living in their heads. It is like having a massive casting call on tap to draw from when a story begins to percolate on the prefrontal cortex. How wonderful and even magical it must be to have these fully formed beings rapping on one's cranium and begging to be released onto the page.

I also hold those with a sense of rhythm and rhyme in very high regard. They can so deftly pen poetry that reaches to the bottom of our souls, a rare and wonderful gift that most surely serves them as a cathartic act.

"Every secret of a writer's soul, every experience of his life, every quality of his mind is written large in his works." - Virginia Woolf

I do view the compulsion to write and writing itself as morphine for the soul. Ink is more the actual drug of choice rather than a controlled substance, but it can produce some of the same positive effects of morphine. A sense of peace that washes over you when whatever was pounding at the brain to be freed has been freed, an act of mercy, as the stranglehold on the author is once again released. There is the ebb and flow process that one becomes addicted to as surely as one might become addicted to a drug such as morphine.

"Our tongues can't compete with the rapid thinking of our brains, our words come out slow and slurred. The pen is our haven. There is a lot of fear buried into that little pen. It holds all of our agony, our torment, our blood and our heaven." Coco J. Ginger

There is the unavoidable pleasure-pain connection for every writer; one cannot avoid traveling through the pain to get to the pleasure. Pain is the connecting flight to all destinations. The positive side of pain is that it harbors our most sensitive thoughts and emotions. From this wellspring flows our deepest sense of our humanity. Pain is a primary ingredient by which the creative cake is allowed to rise.

I have never had the privilege of having imaginary characters come to call on me where my writing is concerned. (Imaginary characters do call on me and have since I was a child, but they never seem inclined to fashion stories for themselves for me to write). My compelling need to write springs from an overflow of thoughts much like that of a reservoir filled to capacity and needing to find an outlet. If I do not allow these thoughts out through the written word then they continue to haunt me until I do. Like a Dickens' ghost they are relentless in their pursuit of freedom.

It is a happy pleasure as a reader to come upon an author that strikes a chord within me. My greatest experience is finding that rare gem of a writer that allows me to become fully invested in his/her characters. It is akin to having an extraordinary and satisfying meal or discovering a wine you have never experienced before. As with the excellent food and drink experience, the story or poem lingers long after it has been read; it is something to savor and tuck away for all time. That is a very good moment for me indeed.

When a total stranger, one you have never met, can reach out through their writing and make you laugh and cry and feel every emotion of life, they are a truly gifted writer. Not only do I search for that as a reader, but I pray for that kind of connection through my own writing. I am perhaps misunderstood more than understood as a writer, but there are those occasional moments when it all comes together and those are the moments I live for.

"Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any other creative art. The water is free. So drink. Drink and be filled up." - Stephen King

I do not think there is a nobler endeavor than that of the pursuit of writing. Words are powerful and to be able to harness them even for a brief moment, so as to convey one's thoughts to others in a way that might move them or even change their lives, is an astonishing act.

"Biting my truant pen, beating myself for spite: "Fool!" said my muse to me, "look in thy heart, and write." -- Sir Philip Sidney