Be Unapologetic

All writers face common demons in our thoughts: This is stupid. I have nothing new to say. Who will care what I write? What would we see if we changed our perceptions? In an opinion piece in the New York Times, Verlyn Klinkenborg writes, "It's a delicate thing, coming to the moment when you realize that your perceptions do count and that your writing can encompass them. You begin to understand how quiet, how subtle the writer's authority really is, how little it has to do with 'authority' as we usually use the word." How did you grow up, and what of that time lingers in your writing and in the strength you give your voice? Klinkenborg touches on the likelihood that females experience internal road blocks more than males—what do you think about that?