Writers Are Solitary Creatures

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I am not sure exactly what makes a writer do what he does. But I do know that most writers want to be solitary. Hidden away. Not in the public eye. Of course we do it. That is, write in the public eye. But rarely is it the aim. We hide behind our words. We hide behind false names. At the end of the day we have to simply write. It is as commonplace for us as it is to breathe. If the pen stops, it's like the heart stopping. But still, as writers, there is a level of anonymity that we enjoy. I think that is part of the reason we write so much secretly, under different pen names, and why we rarely share certain writings with even the closest people in our lives. We can tell you who we are when we want you to know. But we can also be very silent when we do not want you to know. I have been writing since I was eight. I wrote my first novel around 10. I have written ever since and have not stopped. And I have written a great majority of my "stuff" secretly. I will never divulge all of my pen names, although I might divulge some of them. They are my work. My children. My wares. My LIFE. The point to have written anything I have written is not ever for the joy of letting anyone know I have written... It is to fill the need to have written. Like an addiction, writing is as much a part of me as I am a part of me. And the writers? The ones whose names enjoy the byline? They are me, and not me. Each one has their own personality, their own voice, their own style. their own thoughts and ideas. Even some of the most famous writers we know have written things we do not know they wrote. When it comes to writing I cherish all of the people I am. I cherish all of their ideas. I cherish how they feel and what they talk about. I cherish how they tell their stories and how they perceive the world we live in. They all live in me as much as I live in them. But almost all of us are solitary. Writers. Secretive. Private and public at the same time. Hidden behind our keyboards we share what we love, what we experience, what we know... And although we do it for the sole purpose of expressing and simply fulfilling the NEED to write something, anything... Often times It still gets seen and shared. But we get to hide behind people that exist only in our small world when the door closes, and the keyboard gets clacked away at, with whatever mind behind the words that is driving the process. Those people on the business end of it all still want my social security number and THEY know who I am so whoever I am writing as gets paid and so do they. But I do not have to tell you, and Wikipedia may NEVER know unless I spill the beans. Because even the "powers that be" in the writing world are not interested in the who, but the "how much." So, they are willing to play along most of the time. In the end we all win. Me, the solitary secret guy behind some pen name somewhere out there that someone gets to read. The company who gets to have someone read me. And the person who gets to enjoy the words written by whoever I may be on whatever day a word is put to a page. I do not ever consider these "people," these "writers," to be separate people. They are simply separate parts of me. Skeletons in my closet that only I know about. And skeletons, that, if I have my way, will forever stay in the closet. I do not write for you. I write for me. And I write for whoever happens to be sitting behind the keyboard when those words are written. That is a writer's life.