January 31, 2013  Why Write?  I wrote on another site about the
idea of devoting 20% of your time to something outside you
regular "work.". It's a philosophy followed at Google and other
companies. It could be a workplace habit, but it could also be
something to follow in your non-working life.  My 20% seems to
be writing, whether that is poetry, journaling, research or
essays online and in print. If I devoted a fifth of my free time
to one writing task - like a poetry manuscript - I might be a
more successful writer. But, like most of my distracted life, I
split that percentage into writing different things in different
places.  There are five blogs that I write on regularly,
including this one, and three others that I contribute posts to
occasionally. I don't get paid to do that writing. But I
wouldn't say that I do it for "fun" either.  Plus, I do the
regular Poets Online website which archives all of the prompts
and poems that have been submitted since 1998. It's hard to
explain to most people (especially