I Write Therefore I am

Free and Easy
In our shiny, new world of free and easy epublishing, there are probably as many reasons why people write as there are those who do so.

Some write to share their knowledge; some to seek prestige; some want to make money. There are those who write to proselytize their cause and even those who write only to misinform and antagonise. But most of us who write fiction do so because it is who and what we are.

Like many authors, I was writing in childhood - filling copious notebooks with sprawling long hand, poetry and prose. Wanting to capture thoughts and dreams in a finely woven web of words. Like many authors, I hoped one day to share some of that writing with the world. Like most authors, I grew up and got caught up in Real Life. But I never stopped writing.

The Gatekeepers
For most of human history there have been various 'gatekeepers' who have stood between those who write and any chance of that writing being seen by others.

Ideological censorship and simple lack of opportunity must have crushed many beautiful flowerings of creative literature, lost to us forever now - or maybe glimpsed in a few remaining fragments.

Then, in modern times, despite such democratic inventions as the printing press and then the photocopier, publishers stood as the censorious judges of whose work could or could not reach a wider audience.

Golden Age
Then came the internet and epublishing - the sublime 'break out moment' for every writer. The creation of a gigantic book-stall in which the democratic principles of equality and freedom could finally flourish.

For all of us who are readers, a new Golden Age has dawned - whatever our genre, where once we had a few hundred books to choose from there are now a few thousand.

Of course, not all are stunning works of art that will haunt the soul for the rest of eternity - though some may be. But there are many, many good reads and the supply can never equal the demand.