When I was a young boy, I remember going grocery shopping with my mother, and if she lost track of me in the store, she’d inevitably find me in the aisle that carried pens and notebooks. I had a strange fascination — perhaps even a fetish — for stationery, pens, and journals. When I visited my father’s office, I’d sneak away with a treasure trove of pads of papers and pens. I asked for a leather-bound diary with a lock on it for my 7th birthday. Soon afterward, my mother gave me an antique rolltop desk designed for a child, and I was in heaven. I felt like a real writer, and I wrote my first story at that desk.

This is all to say that when I think about the myriad of things that made me a writer and made writing such an urgent act, I sometimes think it was pre-determined. I felt the calling to write from as early as I can remember. I took a few steps in different directions here and there over the years, but I knew that no matter my profession, writing would always be a strong gravitational force in my life.

But that primal calling doesn’t tell me “the why” of it all. Why spend so many hours — why spend the better part of an entire lifetime — in this activity that doesn’t generally offer much societal approbation, and certainly not much money?

I once told a friend that there were at least 100 good reasons why I wrote. But after I said that, I wondered if I was exaggerating. It turns out I wasn’t. Here’s why I write.

1. I write to see the beginning and the end of it all.
2. I write to find myself.
3. I write to lose myself.
4. I write to tame reality.
5. I write to augment reality.
6. I write to discover how to survive.
7. I write to think about how to die.
8. I write to shape my ideas with words.
9. I write to see the world through others’ eyes.
10. I write to exult the possible.
11. I write to probe the chaos in myself.
12. I write to better define the clarity of myself.
13. I write to touch a dragon’s scales.
14. I write to live in a wizard’s magic.
15. I write to make the world bigger.
16. I write to make the world smaller.
17. I write to demystify people’s differences.
18. I write to see with fresh eyes.
19. I write to reorder and recombine the world.
20. I write to listen to the heartbeat of the monstrous.
21. I write to break open the locked chambers of myself.
22. I write to enliven feelings that have become numb.
23. I write to hear a tree’s whispers.
24. I write to make the obvious strange (and the strange obvious)
25. I write to trace the contours of nuances.
26. I write to push the boundaries of myself.
27. I write because I don’t know what else to do.
28. I write to be a part of the world.
29. I write to invent myself.
30. I write to preserve myself.
31. I write to change the world.
32. I write to explore my darkness.
33. I write to inhabit my lightness.
34. I write to hold onto ephemeral moments.
35. I write to quarrel with myself.
36. I write to travel to other lands.
37. I write to encounter the unknown.
38. I write to live in the past and the future.
39. I write to eavesdrop on others’ conversations.
40. I write to peek through the keyholes of forbidden rooms.
41. I write to find an antidote to my malaise.
42. I write to nourish my spirit.
43. I write to test my values.
44. I write to read the world.
45. I write because with each word, new expanses open.
46. I write so that my life will not end when I die.
47. I write to not die of the truth.
48. I write to maintain my equilibrium.
49. I write to be seduced by all of the strange and wonderful possibilities of language.
50. I write to be vulnerable.
51. I write to share.
52. I write to find beauty in the gritty aspects of life and grittiness in the beautiful.
53. I write to entertain myself.
54. I write to converse with others.
55. I write to hide from others.
56. I write because there are so many voices in my head.
57. I write to give.
58. I write because I only have one life, and I want so many more.
59. I write to get revenge (sorry).
60. I write to find out why.
61. I write to resist anything that threatens me.
62. I write to pursue the things I can never quite know.
63. I write to know the boundaries of my fears.
64. I write to not be lonely.
65. I write to feel solace.
66. I write to to fortify my resilience.
67. I write to mend.
68. I write to feel whole.
69. I write to know what makes bad people good and good people bad.
70. I write to hear the music of life.
71. I write to better enjoy my morning cup of coffee.
72. I write to better enjoy my evening glass of wine.
73. I write to develop a rapt eye–and then express the raptures I see.
74. I write to appreciate others’ words and stories more.
75. I write to experiment, to fail, and to try again.
76. I write to pause.
77. I write to notice.
78. I write because words open a secret door through which all else flows.
79. I write to talk to myself.
80. I write to feel the immensity of it all.
81. I write to pray.
82. I write to rewrite.
83. I write because there’s no way to get it right.
84. I write so that I can buy fine journals and pens.
85. I write to retort.
86. I write to hear the silence.
87. I write because I’m not satisfied with just living.
88. I write to wend through the contortions of all of my doubts.
89. I write to know all of the different homes where I have lived.
90. I write to not feel misunderstood.
91. I write to feel the awe of all of the scents, sights, sounds, touches, and tastes of the world.
92. I write to be more intimate with myself.
93. I write to hear what gods and devils talk about.
94. I write to speak in tongues.
95. I write to know the things that are hidden.
96. I write to remember.
97. I write because, as Gloria Steinem said, “Writing is the only thing that, when I do it, I don’t feel I should be doing something else.”
98. I write because I don’t know how not to write.
99. I write to find hope in suffering.
100. I write to light candles in the darkness. I write to keep going, so I’ll add just one more.
101. I write to love.

I just sent my friend these 100 reasons and told her I think I can come up with 100 more.

. . .

Grant Faulkner is the executive director of National Novel Writing Month and the co-founder of 100 Word Story. His book Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo was recently released.