The answer, for me, to this question is quite simple. I write because I cannot NOT write. I have always been a writer, although I did not know it until the summer before I turned 16. I was at loose ends, teenage angst at its peak and my mom decided I needed to do something with my time that summer. She did not want me to get into trouble by just hanging with who she termed was the 'wrong crowd.' In retrospect, she was right.

Creative Writing Summer School
Probably the last place I wanted to be that summer was in school, but the high school was offering a summer class in creative writing. My mom convinced me to take the course. I was not that happy about it, but one of my friends also decided to take it, so I decided it would not be that bad. That summer I discovered something in me that made sense. I could put words on paper and tell a story that people liked to hear. It was powerful. My instructor told me I had a gift and I needed to develop it. Writing came easy for me.

Grammar Class in the Fall
That fall I was enrolled in an Honors English class by mistake. I had not done that well in the previous year's English class, but after my experience in the summer school creative writing class, I thought it might be OK to continue with the English class. I was eager to learn the proper way to express myself now that I had learned the power of words on paper. I ended up the year with an A in that class, much to my surprise, but not my teacher's.

More Writing Classes
By the time I finished high school, I was a regular reporter on the school paper and was thoroughly entrenched in expressing myself through the written word. I took Journalism classes my last two years in high school and when I finally made it to college (after getting married, having 3 kids and getting divorced) I majored in Journalism. I wrote for small, county newspapers and the one city daily all during my college years. It seems like I was always writing or taking writing classes. After graduating from college I tried to get hired at a large daily newspaper in Arizona, but they were not interested in a Montana girl with just a few bylines and an undergraduate degree.

Life Goes On
Although my life has taken many turns since graduating from college in Montana, I made sure I was always doing something that required writing. I now have two masters degrees, one in education and one in business and I work full time as a faculty trainer, but I still write every day. Sometimes just a short hub in here, or an article for eHow or Suite 101, but I do write every day. I have a book in draft form (non-fiction) and have entered and won several fiction contests. I have authored, edited, and designed multiple newsletters for various organizations. Writing is as much a part of my life as breathing, reading, and travel are. Oh yes, eating and sleeping, too. My favorite quote is: "If I have money, I will buy books. If I have money left over, I will buy food." I don't know who said that but I live by it. If anyone does know, let me know.