With his tongue somewhat in his cheek, Bill Keller ponders a question of human motivation. Why would anyone want to write a book? His answer:
Writers write them [books] for reasons that usually have a little to do with money and not as much to do with masochism as you might think. There is real satisfaction in a story deeply told, a case richly argued, a puzzle meticulously untangled.
For the writer, he also says, it's not so much the process, it's the result: 'When people say they love writing, they usually mean they love having written.' Well, I know what he means about the past tense of it; but it isn't altogether true. There's also some pleasure - alongside the difficulty, the work - in giving shape to something to which your mind has become attached.