Frequently, as so many poets and psalmists and songwriters have said, the invisible shift happens through the broken places.

Learning to love back is the hardest part of being alive.

We write to expose the unexposed. Most human beings are dedicated to keeping that one door shut. But the writer's job is to see what's behind it, to see the bleak unspeakable stuff, and to turn the unspeakable into words - not just into any words but if we can, into rhythm and blues. You can't do this without discovering your own true voice, and you can't find your true voice and peer behind the door and report honestly and clearly to us if your parents are reading over your shoulder.

It was not facing what life dealt that made you crazy, but rather trying to set life straight where it was unstraightenable.

There is a door we all want to walk through and writing can help you find it and open it.

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something-anything-down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft-you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft-you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it's loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.

Sometimes grace works like water wings when you feel you are sinking.