The Lowdown

I am often asked why do I write?  "Because it isn't there," says Thomas Berger; "to survive as individuals," says Don DeLillo.  Both excellent reasons, and both wrong: I do not write to either end.  I write because it IS there, but it is not there as I see it, not there in quite the right way, and I just want to tweak it, to say it with my own words so that maybe more people will understand it than before.  I write to communicate: I want others to feel the way I feel, to see what I see, just for a few minutes.  How many wish another would understand their pain, or joy, or fear?  How many want others to spend a day in their shoes?  How many act on those wishes?  I read because those words are the perspective of someone across the country, around the world, or no longer living--because they are a part of that writer; and I write so that others may read a part of me.  A book, to me, is a glimpse into the mind of another: a mile in that person's shoes, if you will.  And I want people to walk in my shoes--want them, for just a day, to know what it is to be me.  I do not want to force my readers to think as I do, rather I want them to be open to my opinions--to own them temporarily--and then give them back.