What Keeps an Unpublished Novelist Writing?

In no particular order:

*Wondering what will happen each day when I walk down to my writing shack, turn on the computer, and pick up the story where I left off last night.

*The desire to fulfill a dream I have held since childhood.

*As someone else on this blog has already mentioned, the thrill of creating something new, something that did not exist in the world until I typed it.

*Knowing I have picked a “job” (if it hasn’t in fact “picked” me) that will challenge and frustrate me for my entire life, but that also offers rewards beyond measure.

*My son asking, “What’s your story about, Dad?”

*My wife saying, “Don’t worry, honey, you’ll do it. I believe in you.”

*My friends saying, “Dude, you ever going to get a book published?”

*I’m too old to start a new rock-n-roll band.

*What else would I do with all the voices in my head?

*The acceptance letters for stories/essays that have come just often enough to keep me walking back down to my writing shack each evening.