hey Mark! Good question!
Here's something I wrote a few years ago in answer to the same question. I guess it still applies (except for the fact that I write much less often than i used to, unfortunately!)
i write because i have to.
my goal is to keep myself sane.
the language is music and mystery
colliding inside my brain.
if i don't get the thoughts out on paper,
they run rampant and scare me, so
i write because i have to
but 'twould be nice to make some dough.
so if anyone wants to publish me
email me directly, i'll bite.
i'm very unlikely to argue with that
or put up a bit of a fight.
i've got free verse and rhyme, stories, haikus,
humor and angst and a bit of the blues
piled up in boxes, filed in folders
ready for publishers or word beholders
i write because i have to. just to let you know.
but i wouldn't mind being read by the masses
or going on the oprah show.
