The title is the simple and complex question from one of my students today when I told them that for my birthday I was doing a writing lock-in. She couldn’t understand why I would want to do that or be excited by it. When I told her writing is a compulsion I had to explain compulsion. (What would you expect? They’re my English Language Learners and while they may not speak English as their first language I will defend my point that they are brilliant for being able to work in two languages to anyone who is fool enough to think otherwise based on accents.) Explaining compulsion is what really…