Well, now that I'm here, I've been poking around and found this poll and thought it was quite interesting.
My answer to the first question was: for self-gratification, to fill a need, for entertainment and because I can't NOT write.
It's really a combintion of all of those things. Sometimes I do it just for fun, to play with an idea or character or situation. Sometimes I do it because I have this idea and I can't believe no one else has done it and I just have to get it down on paper so I can read it. I definitely enjoy it (most of the time, anyway) so I get pleasure from it. And although there are times I go months without writing for whatever reason (usually because I'm blocked or frustrated) eventually I always wind up writing again.
As for the second question, I would absolutely (and have quite frequently) write stories purely for myself with no intention of sharing them with others. Sometimes when I finish I send them to select friends I think might enjoy them. But it's not at all unusual for me to have stories or parts of stories on my harddrive for years without publishing them in some form or sharing them with others.
I've been writing for as long as I can remember. When I was six, I dragged everything out of the hall closet, put in a desk, a chair and a stack of paper, and hung a sign on the door that said "Annie's Writing Room. Do not disturb." When I was eleven I decided I wanted to be a journalist. At twelve I wrote my first full-length novel. (A novel, btw, which is HYSTERICAL to read now. Also illustrated with photos cut from teen magazines. Very professional. <G>) At fifteen I started my high school's newspaper. Etc, etc.
All my life I've been a writer. Throughout all the changes in my life, that is the one thing that has stayed constant.
I really hope that someday I will have some published novels. I have a bunch of crime/romance plots running around in my head, including one I'm working on writing now. And for years I've been toying with the idea of writing a fictionalized memoir. I have bits and pieces of it written.
But if no one ever reads my stories, if no company ever publishes them, I'm sure I'll keep writing. Because I don't think I know how to quit.
