A great ancient poet was blind. A great classical composer was deaf. Many of us are dumb. What have we to show for it?

I started to write. And I wrote and wrote all through high school.

I've always been creative verbally, had a flair, my teachers said - wrote great expository essays in elementary school, scribbled little poems, embraced all writing assignments. And all along I read voraciously - first in Russian and then, after we left the USSR, in English, and even Spanish.

Is it folly to believe in something that is intangible? After all, some of the greatest intangibles are Love, Hope, and Wonder. Another is Deity. The choice to be a fool is yours.

Some people prefer eating dessert to the main course. These people have never been really hungry.

You cannot be fair to others without first being fair to yourself. Know that a well-honed sense of justice is a measure of personal experience, and all experience is a measure of self. Know that the highest expression of justice is mercy. Thus, as the supreme judge in your own court, you must have compassion for yourself. Otherwise, cede your gavel.

The act of sharing with readers was at first too much of an intimate thing. But it evolved into an intense necessity to share.