When, How, Why.

Have you ever had a thought in your head that was so strong you couldn't breathe?
That is when I write. When the whirlpool in my mind starts spinning fast enough that it spits out phrases that catch in my throat. Sometimes it's just one or two lines that glue themselves to my eyelids, sometimes it's a whole piece that seems to fill my lungs like my cigarette smoke, and I just try to get it down before it floats away. That's when I write.
I don't do a lot of plotting or planning, I usually just sit down and let my fingers work.
Quite often I wont have any idea what I've written until I read through it again, and, sometimes, even then, I wont know why I wrote it. But, everyone and everything, needs a place, and a reason, to be. Even the words. And I'm usually just there to give those words a place to go. And that is how I write.
And as for why, it really depends on the day. Sometimes it's as simple as it wanted to be written, or I was choking on the words, and sometimes I need to. When I was younger, I used to say that I write when my soul gets cut, and the only way to heal it is to bleed it onto paper, and I suppose that is still true. Writing is the best cure, best therapy, and best escape I have ever found. And that, is why I write.