Why Write? Great post by Tim Hallinan.

I quote from author Timothy Hallinan's website from time to time. I like his books and appreciate his writing advice and insight, which he shares in spades on his website and blog. Had the good fortune to meet him when he was here in Houston this fall and, big surprise, I liked him too. There is a new post on his blog called Why Write? that I think will have meaning for all writers. I hope you'll read the whole post, but this was my favorite passage:

"A novel, whatever else it may be, is a projection of the person who wrote it. It’s been said frequently that a writer can’t create a character more intelligent than than the writer is. I’m not sure about that, but there’s no question that writers can create characters braver, more cowardly, more evil, more saintly, more almost anything than the writer is — because the writer as a functioning personality is a carefully assembled presentation of the good/bad/beautiful/ugly/wise/immature inner voices in his or her skull. Part of growing up is to learn to manage our conflicting impulses, to organize them, like a good photographer faced with a motley crowd and somehow creating a relatively attractive group shot. Sooner or later, we begin to believe (at times, anyway) that that carefully assembled jigsaw puzzle is really who we are. Writing lets us pick that apart and speak to each of those little imps and angels individually and let them stretch their legs." --Timothy Hallinan