When I was a young wife in the mid-1970s, Woman’s Day and Family Circle magazines often published short stories. My friend Peggy and I read them and were consistently disappointed with them. “I could write better stories than these,” I said. “Me, too,” said Peggy. But I don’t think we ever submitted any.

In the 1990s I was a stay-at-home mom with five kids. I decided to become a freelance writer because that way I could earn money while raising my own children fulltime. I was published in Raising Arizona Kids, Christian Library Journal, A Closer Look, The Annals of St. Anne de Beaupre, The Arizona Republic, Women’s Touch, Media Investor, and Lutheran Digest. As for earning money, my biggest grossing year I earned $600, for two worship drama scripts I sold to Concordia Publishing. I started several novels and finished a couple, though they were never sold (although one did go to “committee”).

In 2000 I started working a string of jobs outside the home, the last as an elementary general music teacher, which I resigned from in 2014. It was after that I got serious about writing.

I’d always said when I retired I’d go back to writing. I hadn’t meant to retire in 2014, but since I applied for jobs for a year and never got hired, I rejoined the critique group I’d attended during the 90s and early 2000s and resurrected my favorite novel. I contributed to a group blog and started ARHtistic License.

I write because my brain is swimming with ideas. I have a file cabinet of drafts that I want to rewrite someday, and notebooks full of ideas for future projects. I have a poetry chapbook on the contest circuit, three novels in different stages of progress, a bible study I’m rewriting and another I’m planning, and a book of children’s poems in the works that I want to illustrate myself. I’m also committed to posting on ARHtistic License every day.

Okay, you writers out there—why do you write? Let’s face it, it’s not the easiest way to make a living. So what drives you to put the words on paper? You can share in the comments below, or if you prefer, email me through my contact page. I’d like to tabulate the responses and address them in a future post on ARHtistic License. Thank you for your input.