Perks

Most of us write because we want to and have to. For many, including me, the money is about enough to keep our printer in cartridges. Why do we do it?

I think we do it to give our characters life. It's pretty incredible too. We create an entire convincing world so our characters will have life and breath.

I can go a year with few rewards. A reader saying "I loved your novel" can sustain me for months. But this April has been a good month for me. I sold a story to Liguorian Magazine, a national Catholic magazine, and the next day found I had won first place for short fiction in the AAUW's (American Association University Women)state writing contest.

But this is not the norm and not what keeps me writing. I write because I need to find out what characters are up to.