25 Reasons to Keep Writing

1. because I can't draw very well
2. because other people are doing it better
3. because dinner's not ready yet
4. because there's time
5. my mother's jubilant emails
6. the weather makes for perfect metaphor
7. I'd forget otherwise
8. it makes sex better
9. because it's not just about the desire to please
10. because of the impracticality of yearning
11. because of love
12. because I want to remember everything
13. spontaneous, lucid epiphanies
14. the infinite alphabet of words
15. because I don't know what else there is
16. because I'm awake enough to pay attention
17. poetry and song and the deliverance of prayer
18. because sometimes I can't bear to be alone
19. the pure delight of invention
20. the long, steep climb that burns the lungs
21. the fever of midnight
22. all the precipices I want to edge away from
23. because when it works, I'm flying
24. the soundless, opalescent moments of sheer wonder
25. the electric possibility of getting it right, and the smaller, quiet beauty of almost.