Musing on the motivation to write.

I have just got onto this site, and am thinking that , for all it seems to offer almost everything a writer might need, it does not offer the one thing a writer absolutely cannot do without: motivation.

Why, I ask  myself, do I want to write, when there is nothing I particularly want to write about?  I mean, surely if you want to write, it  must be because you have something to say, or some ambition, like developing word skills, writing a novel, becoming a poet, earning through the pen etc.  None of the above applies to me.  I JUST WANT TO WRITE!

So, if the desire to write comes before any idea about what you might want to write about, what do you do?  Try out everything?  Today a novel?  Tomorrow an article, then a poem?  Or  maybe I should start the other way round, start with something short and neat and then work up to something big, like a novel. 

When I play the piano, though I have been playing for about 45 years, I still DO NOT KNOW ANY PIECES OFF BY HEART.  I still sight-read every piece I play.  This means I never actually play anything without making mistakes, even if I have played it many times before, but, on the other hand, I just love hearing the music.  And when I did once try to learn a piece off by heart, I found that I 'lost the music'.  The concentration on hitting the right notes, KILLED THE MUSIC.

I feel there  must be some connection here to my writing ambition: I learned to play the piano because I LOVED music.  I want to write (ah-ha, now we're getting to it!) because I LOVE reading. 

But I play pieces of music THAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS WRITTEN.  So, if I follow that thread, I WANT TO WRITE LIKE THE THINGS I HAVE READ.  In other words, I want to be able to make the same kind of word-music that I have read.  Or, I want to use other people's writing that I love, and somehow ....

That is as far as I can go at present.  If anyone else has thoughts on the matter, I would be only to glad to hear about them.