Writing is my shelter. I don't hide behind the words; I use them to dig inside my heart to find the truth.

Back then I confused passions and orgasms with love. It look me years to realize the two weren't synonymous.

I like to think of what happens to characters in good novels and stories as knots--things keep knotting up. And by the end of the story--readers see an unknotting of sorts. Not what you expect, not the easy answers you get on TV, not wash and wear philosophies, but a reproduction of believable, emotional experiences.

Pay attention to the things that agitate you. It will tell you a lot about yourself.

Don't worry about how pretty (the story) sounds, how lilting it is, and the imagery, and the metaphor, all that. Most readers don't care. It's the people in your book that matter.

I'm not trying to be a middle aged centerfold, I just want to look at myself naked and not be disgusted.

Why is it that if you happen to be black and over six feet tall, everybody thinks you supposed to play basketball or football?