Why do I write?

So a little change of pace today.  I will give you some insight into why and what I write.  The first part is obvious.  From a very young age I was encouraged to read books and I had very supportive parents and grandparents who would also read to me.

After all of that exposure to books it was only a matter of time before I would attempt it too.  To date I have 5 projects in various stages:

A Frank's Tale - The story of a father and his sons as they accompany King Clovis on his barbarian exploits
Published and available at http://store.payloadz.com/details/1941573

Atlantros - "The Warrior's" meets the lost city of Atlantis - yes it is as cheesy as it sounds!

The OuterQuaker Affair - A work I did in college about an apartment complex held by terrorists

The Guild - A story about a young man drawn into the underworld of a thieves guild - I still need to write an ending for this one and then go through the editing and re-reading stage

Edward - One boys fight for survival as William the Conqueror attempts to put down the Northern Rebellion with a brutal campaign of terror - ongoing

I wish I could say that the words just flow onto the pages but most days between work and other commitments things move pretty slow.  My current project has been booted back to the research stage as I try and figure out the specifics (or near enough) about what happened in Northern England between 1067 and 1069AD.  Funny how there are few records about an area when everything was destroyed and more than half the people killed!

As it says in my bio I love to write historical fiction because I get to research events and still be creative.  Although I had a diploma in Information Technology from Tynemouth College, it really didn't count for much academically in the United States.  So I had to return to school :) and I now hold a Bachelor's degree in History from Rutgers University.  Over the eight years going part-time I found plenty of historical events that are basically just interesting to me.  Writing about something you are interested about plays a huge role in how easy it is to write.  There is a reason I don't try to write about vampires trying to seduce teenage girls.  Although I know a fair amount about vampires (proper Christopher Lee vampires :)) I have no interest in writing about their love or angst filled lives.  Throw a Peter Cushing character into the equation and drop them both into the Acropolis and now you are talking my language :)

Other than a love of books, identifying topics that keep you interested, and a bit of free time the rest is really just a desire (or lack of fear) of putting your work out in the world.  I sat on my novella "A Frank's Tale" for a good two years before making it available for people to read.  I was and am very proud of this work but it is still a big step to open yourself up to potential criticism.  Sooner or later you will reach the point when you realize that your story is as good as it is going to get and just release it. 

Last week was James, this week is Karl debuting on my blog.  I think he would be more likely to just write bacon over and over on my grocery list if he could hold a pen rather than write a book.