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Why do we do this? Why do we keep writing?

Susan over at The Urban Muse has tagged us for the meme unofficially titled "My Love of Writing." Tagged participants must list between three and five things that they love about writing. Read her post for inspiration, and follow some of the links backwards--she connects to lots of great writing sites.

It's a great list to have handy on the dark days when you feel like everything you write is like a Readers Digest article paraphrased by a ten-year-old with crayons.

Three things I love about writing: First, I love the Ah-Ha! Moment when I am actually experiencing something I will write about. Like when somebody says something smart, funny, or silly and I want to plug it straight into a character's mouth. Or when I am seeing or doing something so strange that I know describing it will make great prose. Continue reading...

Secondly, I love it after a long long day of drafting something new (in my sloppy handwriting and bad first-draft style) and at the bottom of the page, I accidentally write something beautiful in the heady rush of writing.

Lastly, I love it when I'm bobbing around New York City with my headphones playing my favorite writing music and thinking about writing; every once in a magical while I have this moment where I am writing in my head and it mixes perfectly with the music and I feel like a character running around inside an amazingly happy musical about my life.

(Incidentally, I read Spaceman Blues by Brian Francis Slattery over the weekend, and he made me feel joyful like that. Marvelous book, and you should look for him on this site soon.)

That euphoria makes all my struggles worth it. How about you? What do you love about writing? I tag Susan a LitPark, Ed Champion, Rachel Kramer Bussel, and Sarah Weinman.