W(h)ine and Cheese

First comes the whine: “Please let me s-e-l-l another book. I want a contract soooo bad.”

Next comes the cheese(y) grin: “Hot damn, I sold!”

Then my editor utters the word DEADLINE and reality sets in.

No summer vacation.

Thanksgiving dinner is a Lean Cuisine.

The bags under my computer-weary eyes have me looking like a Halloween ghoul.

And the whining begins all over again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love being a writer. But television, movies, picnics, fireworks and snowball fights seem all the more appealing when I’m locked away in my writing cave.

To keep from alienating everyone within earshot with my wails of p-o-o-o-o-o-r m-e-e-e-e-e, I like to whip out an index card and jot the reasons why I write.

They don’t have to be realistic:
This book is going to be so popular, A-list actors will beg to star in the movie version.

Or even nice:
I’ll show that _____ of a teacher who didn’t pick me to be a special creative writing class at my elementary school.

Or even about me:
This book is for my Dad, who went over her head to the principal and got me in that class.

They just have to be things that are important enough to send me to my computer every day.

Now it’s your turn. Don’t leave me hanging, ya’ll. What drives you to write?