There are many reasons why I enjoy writing and they have their roots in my youth and the books that fired my imagination, my sense of adventure.
When I was a kid, my appetite for reading was voracious. I read all sorts of books but, I tended to lean toward stories that focused on fantasy, science fiction, and what I call classical literature. Some of my favorites that I still have on my shelf today, old companions I will never let go of, are Treasure Island, Robinson Crusoe, The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Dracula, The Island of Dr. Moreau, The Food of the Gods, The Invisible Man, The War of the Worlds, Frankenstein, Gulliver's Travels, The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe, The Grapes of Wrath, A Tale of Two Cities, a short story collection of Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, From the Earth to the Moon, Around the World in 80 Days, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, King Kong, The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, The Time Machine, The Lost World, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?... the list goes on.
What I loved about these stories is that I was able to step into another world, to lose myself in a fantasy, to disappear into an adventure that in all likelihood wouldn't happen in my own life. And perhaps that is why I have spent so much time traveling and sometimes getting into adventures of my own. Perhaps reading those stories fueled that desire in me, the desire to, in some fashion, actualize my own adventure so that what my imagination absorbed through reading could become real in front of my very eyes.
But I also wanted to create my own adventures on paper. I've discovered throughout my life that I have always felt somewhat awkward in what we call real life. I've never felt as if I completely fit in, as if I'm a misfit, as if I don't belong. Real life has always felt somewhat strange to me, chasing our tails for the latest technological update or worrying about life insurance or making sure the oil is changed in the car. Naturally of course, I know these things are a part of living and must be attended to but, I guess I feel more comfortable tucked within my adventures. And I believe that's why I love writing so much. I get the chance to go into another world, to create another world, to develop characters who can do things you just can't do in real life, to transpose traits from my own personality to those characters and allow them to explore them in ways real life prohibits.
I love writing because absolutely anything can happen and I can bring that to life within those pages.