How Do You Feel When You Write?

How do you feel when you are writing, especially when deeply immersed in a story or essay you've been working on? 

When you write, do the cares of your everyday life vanish? Do you feel like you're in a world all your own? 

Does the act of writing increase your happiness quotient? Or does it up the anxiety level? Are you aggravated when you have to stop writing to attend to other things in your life? Or are you relieved?

I find that when I'm writing, I do block out all other things. I'm also happy, at peace with myself, and satisfied. Yes, even when a story is not going the way I would like it to. It's not what I'm writing as much as the act of writing itself that gives me these feelings. 

I think that there are also writers who find writing painful but also feel compelled to keep writing. It makes me wonder why these people keep beating up on themselves. But we humans are funny--we do a lot of things that give the psychologists fodder for their theses. 

I never worry about a piece being rejected while I'm working on it. That comes later when I actually submit it somewhere and only sometimes, not with everything. There are probably some writers who think negatively the entire time they are writing something. They defeat themselves in doing so. 

I question whether we can change what our feelings about writing tend to be. I'm not sure how one goes about making a change from unhappy to happy when writing. Anyone have a thought? Send us your comments on this question and anything else you'd like to tell us.