That’s a common question and one that is always hard to answer. It’s a bit like asking a fish why it swims, or a bird why it flies. It would feel wrong not to be writing. It would be a bit like having a child that you never take care of, or bringing home a fantastic puppy that you just ignore. It’s almost like a real, live presence for me. But, like a plant, the writing needs watering and sunshine. I think a talent is a bit of a responsibility. I come from a family where people had talents that they didn’t always nurture. My mom was a great artist–she painted and drew–but she didn’t keep it up. She now does amazing things with needlework, though. But, even as a kid, I couldn’t understand why she didn’t just stop everything else and just do art. Of course, now that I’m and adult and a mother, I know you can’t just do that. You have other responsibilities too. But I was always determined to make room for the writing, just like a new mother makes room for her baby. From a more psychological perspective, writing is one way to make sense of all the strange things that happen in one’s life. When I was a teenager, I thought of writers like vultures. Even if something bad happens, there is a writer circling, taking notes, thinking of ways to use the pain in a story. But now I know the vulture metaphor, although still a good one, isn’t entirely fair. We’re not only using material, we’re decoding it, making sense of it.