The Six Golden Rules of Writing: Read, read, read, and write, write, write.

"What for?" I said. "What for, Tante Lou? He treated me the same way he treated her. He wants me to feel guilty, just as he wants her to feel guilty. Well, I'm not feeling guilty, Tante Lou. I didn't put him there. I do everything I know how to do to keep people like him from going there. He's not going to make me feel guilty."

I believe that the writer should tell a story. I believe in plot. I believe in creating characters and suspense.

I have learned as much about writing about my people by listening to blues and jazz and spirituals as I have by reading novels.

...my heart may have been in it but my soul was not.

I was raised by a lady that was crippled all her life but she did everything for me and she raised me. She washed our clothes, cooked our food, she did everything for us. I don't think I ever heard her complain a day in her life. She taught me responsibility towards my brother and sisters and the community.

Everything's been said, but it needs saying again.