Why I write

I remember once VSP drilling me about why I write.

I write because I feel the urge to. Because I have to. But where does this urge come from? May be to reach out, please, connect?

This particular piece by Isaac B. Singer got me thinking about it again:

Why I write for children

by Isaac Bachevis Singer

1. Children read books not reviews.
2. Children don’t read to find their identity.
3. They don’t read to free themselves from guilt, to quench their thirst for, or to get rid of alienation.
4. They have no use for psychology.
5. They detest sociology.
6. They don’t try to understand Kafka or Finnegan’s Wake.
7. They still believe in God, the family, agnels, devils, witches, goblins, logic, clariy, punctuation, and other obsolete stuff.
8. They love interesting stories, not commentary, guides or footnotes.
9. When a book’s boring, they yawn openly, without any shame or fear of authority.
10. They don’t expect their beloved writer to redeem humanity. Yours as they are, they know that it is not in his powero. Only the adults have such childish illusions.

from “A Day of Pleasure: Stories of a Boy Growing Up in Warsaw” 1970