What is writing? Why do we write? The Writers - those people who put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard as may be the case), whether they are famous authors or emerging voices, journalists or novelists, writers of fiction or nonfiction, formulas or poetry - have a million reasons why they write.

For some, to write is to escape life: \"You must stay drunk on writing so reality cannot destroy you\", as Ray Bradbury says in Zen in the Art of Writing.

For others, to write is to embrace life, to record every detail and to live it fully.

For myself and for other members of the World Pulse community, writing fulfills each of these extremes. Sometimes we write whimsically or imaginatively to transport ourselves away from brutality and into another reality. Sometimes we write descriptively to savor a moment; or passionately, like a full-frontal assault on an issue we care about. For us, to write is to discuss everything that we come across in life.

For us, to write is to take control over life: to confront the obstacles we have faced, to trumpet the triumphs we have had, and to share the lessons we have learned along the way.