When I don’t write, I feel a sort of loneliness seep into my life. It’s as if my characters and stories are always there in the back of my mind, reprimanding me for neglecting them. Writing allows me to chase dreams and go on adventures that aren’t possible in my everyday life. And I think that’s one of the reasons I write – to escape the mundane and step into the magical. On the page I can live vicariously through my characters. I can be the huntress, the king, the assassin, the heinous villain. We all have these characters inside of us, and writing allows me to explore mine. I think Andrea Barrett says it best, “I’ve never known a writer who didn’t feel ill at ease in the world. We all feel unhoused in some sense. That’s part of why we write. We feel we don’t fit in, that this world is not our world, that though we may move in it, we’re not of it. You don’t need to write a novel if you feel at home in the world.” I write to feel whole. Without the magic of stories and the written word, I would be so much less than I am now.

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