My answer was simple: 'Because it gets me away from daytime TV.' (Only joking - no, I'm not.) Seriously though, the reason I gave was because with writing, I can live different lives. I can do things I wouldn't normally do and be people I cannot be. But the best bit I left out - they were only 12 - it's mostly because I get to fall in love over and over again.
And I told them how writing a book was very much like reading one. You're excited; impatient and yet reluctant to get to the end the moment you are hooked. In romance writing, you fall in love with your hero, just like if you were reading it. You are learning the story as you write. And even though you decided it, sometimes it feels like they have decided it for you - the characters.
And then I thought about the emotions and process of reading a good book and how that was like writing. And I realised, it was all like falling in love.
You can read my article about how reading a good book is like falling in love HERE - on the lovely ladies from With Love For Books' website. Check it out and see if you agree.