I’ve been tagged in a ‘Blog Hop’.

Title: Why I Write

Matt Cairns, a fellow author on Twitter, @mattcairns73, kindly invited me to participate in this blog hop. Matt Cairns published a novel, Cold Blooded, in 2013.  Cold Blooded is an action thriller/horror novel with elements of the supernatural.  Check out Matt Cairns’ novel “Cold Blooded: A Thriller” here.

Okay, so how does a Blog Hop work?

*         Well, it’s like a game of tag, but on Twitter.

*         Once you’re tagged, you need to write a post on your blog about why you write. (Feel free to use the same kind of format as I have in this post.)

*          Make sure you link back to the person who tagged you.

*          Nominate and tag three (or more) people via Twitter to be next in the ‘hop’. (Make sure you contact them so they know.)

So, on with the blog…

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Why I Write

Why do I write?  The answer is quite simple:  to escape.

I developed a love for books at a very young age.  I found myself reading whatever I could get my hands on.  Growing up poor and introverted, books were always my friends when I didn’t feel like I had any.

Along with a love for reading came an affinity for writing.  I can remember writing poems and song lyrics when I was a child.  Shortly thereafter, the poetry transitioned into short stories and eventually novels when I was a teen.  The first novel I ever wrote was, of course, about vampires.  Back in the ’90s, vampires were quite prevalent, and I devoured anything vampire related.  So it was only natural that my first novel that I published, Vampire Next Door, would be, in fact, about vampires.

I have always loved the idea that books can transport us to places we’ve never been.  We meet people we could never meet in real life.  We are able to experience a myriad of emotions and relish in triumphs and defeats by just simple words strung together into sentences.  And we can live vicariously through a number of different characters and, in a sense, become them for the length of the book.  I always wanted to create that kind of magic with words, and I am finally living my ultimate dream — being a published author.  With a deep-rooted need to escape of my own, I love creating worlds for other people to escape to as well.

Why do I write?  Because if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have a purpose. I live to write.  It has always been like that for me and always will be.  Even if I never publish another book again, I would still write for myself, as I had been doing for years before publishing my first novel.  I have so many more books, characters and universes that I can’t wait to share with everyone.  And as all writers are very aware of, the voices never stop — the characters are always there, waiting for you to tell their story.

“I write for the same reason I breathe – because if I didn’t, I would die.” – Isaac Asimov

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TAG! You’re it…

So here’s the point where I nominate other writers for the ‘hop’, so they too can answer the question: Why do I write?  I nominate as follows: 

Setta Jay, @SETTAJAY_, author of The Guardians of The Realms Series

Lane Hart, @WritingfromHart, author of Blood Drive

C.E. Black, @CEBlackBooks, author of Shifted Perceptions

Garrard Hayes, @garradhayes, author of Bourbon and Blood

Daniel Kaye, @DanielKaye_, author of dark fiction vampire novel I, Vladimir

Eddie Jose Morales, @morales_ej, short story horror fiction writer

T.W. Barton, @TyWadeBooks, author of the upcoming iVigilante series and book reviewer.  (He supports a LOT of indie authors!)