Why do I write?

Somebody asked me this past week, why do I write.  I was quick with an asnwer – “Because I enjoy it”.  But then the question would not leave my mind and it traveled with me for a few days. In the end I realised that my answer was not nearly profound enough.  As the French novelist Stendhal wrote in 1822: “For those who have tasted the profound activity of writing, reading is no more than a secondary pleasure.” (De l’Amour)

I write (or, I am an author because,) I love it. I enjoy creating a make- believe world where all is possible. Where grass can be purple and where fairies, unicorns and the like reside. Writing gives me wings!

I write (and read) to escape to a place where you can relax without the stress of daily life.  To time-travel to destinations and epochs which does not exist anymore and will never exist again. 

I write and do research to take my reader on a journey to the history and beyond, to show my reader what South African history was like.  My most fervent wish, when I write a story, a blog entry or a sketch is that the reader will, for that brief period he / she is reading my work forget about their anxieties and concerns and escape with me to the imaginary world I created. In the words of Francis Quarles (English poet 1592 – 1644)  “I wish thee as much pleasure in the reading, as I had in the writing.” (Emblems, “To the Reader”)

Somebody once said that to travel in time, one should read.   Another wonderful advantage of reading is that “A good book is the best of friends, the same to-day and for ever.” (Martin Tupper, 1838)

Now I feel I have answered the question of why I write,  properly.  On that note – VERRAAD, my short story bundle is available on Amazon as well as www.kindlebooks.co.za and Señorita Carmena is also available on these two platforms.  Geneviéve is not available on either one any more (if you would like to read that novella, please send me a message). Thank you very much for all the support.  Both books are doing well.

Remember to read – it broadens your horizons and lets you escape to other worlds.  It is cheap and not harmful. “A good book is the purest essence of a human soul.” (Thomas Carlyle, 1907 – in his speech in support of the London Library.) 

Have a wonderful day dear Reader.