I can't truly pinpoint when or why I started writing, but I can tell you what writing 'does for me' and maybe that will shed some light??

It basically serves two purposes: artistic release (because I can't draw or paint or sing -- or even cook, truth be told), and it's an escape from the "daily grind".

I've made up little stories since I was a kid, but I didn't start writing for people to read until Harry Potter, and even then it was a gradual transition from stream-of-thought writing to a style that would (hopefully) allow others to "see" what I see in my head in a given scene.

The latter, I've found, is much more fun and allows me to get lost in the fantasy/story/scene for a moment and leave the mundane behind - just as the HP books themselves did for me. (Clarification: That sounds like I'm 'putting myself into the story', aka: Mary Sue, but I don't "see" it like I'm there living it so much as like a movie in my head in which I can see the strugles of the characters, relate to their emotions, and enjoy their triumphs with them - not "as" them.)

And that's pretty much it. A long winded way of saying that its an escape and allows the kid in me to come out and play. :)