~ The Poet's Place Cafe~

Interesting, Dave. I also spent much of my career as a technical writer (mostly installation/maintenance manuals and on-line help). I hadn't planned it that way, because I'd majored in landscape architecture (but I wasn't very good at it). (Side note - I met my wife in college, and she decided to accompany me on my first post-college job interview. And yes, she decided to be interviewed, too. And yes, she got the job.)

I started writing fiction pretty much out of the blue, when a story idea just popped into my head. And after several years of CC (creating crap), I got lucky and eventually had 3 stories and a poem published in small-press magazines.

I'd say I write just for the satisfaction, especially the feedback (mostly positive) I get from you and others on Writing.com. I have an unpublished novel sitting on the shelf (after 3 or 4 rejections), and every few years I re-read it and make a few edits, but I've given up on wasting my time with publishers.

I enjoy reading and reviewing the works of others on this site. Often I think, hell, I can do better than that. But sometimes I do, and other times not.

You say I should keep my audience in mind, but I have to admit that my first drafts for Writing.com challenges often are simple attempts to meet the requirements. And all too often I realize that I failed in that attempt. But my re-writes always try to address both those requirements and all who might read the work.

As for the motivations of other writers, I never gave that much thought, and I'm afraid that most attempts to do so would be total guesses. I'm just glad they all do it (for whatever reasons), because reading their work (as well as your prompts and reviews) keeps me inspired to let the creativity flow from my soul (to my keyboard).