I like to sit at a desk and type

People sometimes attribute more idealistic values to me than I actually have as a writer. Like Ruth Rendell (recently deceased), when she was asked what motivated her to write, “I like to sit at a desk and type.”¹ I have values and I suppose some of them are admirable, but mostly I just enjoy the act of writing itself, the challenge of communicating something clearly — not just anything, of course, but probably anything that seems useful.

I also like getting paid to write.