I Believe That A Writer Has To

My Father Always Taught By Telling Stories About His Experiences. His Lessons Were About Morality And Art And What Insects And Birds And Human Beings Had In Common. He Told Me What It Meant To Be A Man And To Be A Black Man. He Taught Me About Love And Responsibility, About Beauty, And How To Make Gumbo.

It Was Mid-november 2008. There Were Pirates Taking Ships With Impunity In African Waters, Terrorists Punching Holes In Indian Security, China Sinking Towards Depression Because Americans Were Afraid To Buy Cheap Goods For Christmas, And The Richest Nation In The History Of The World Was Talking About How To Keep A Budget.

I Always Tell People, If A Young Girl Read "beloved" As Her First Novel, She'd Have To Kill Either Herself Or Her Mother, Because In "beloved" You Have A Mother Killing Their Children. This Is Not Something A Child Would Accept Very Easily. And Would Never Understand.

Many Writers-in-waiting Spend A Lot Of Time Avoiding The Work At Hand. The Most Common Way To Avoid Writing Is By Procrastination. This Is The Writer's Greatest Enemy. There Is Little To Say About It Except That Once You Decide To Write Every Day, You Must Make Yourself Sit At The Desk Or Table For The Required Period Whether Or Not You Are Putting Down Words. Make Yourself Take The Time Even If The Hours Seem Fruitless. Ideally, After A Few Days Or Weeks Of Being Chained To The Desk, You Will Submit To The Story That Must Be Told.

I Know How Bad A Thing It Is To Be A Slave And I Know How Terrible It Was But I Don't Believe That There's A Free Person In The Whole World That Knows How Good A Cup Full Of Water Can Taste. Because You Have To Be A Deprived Slave, To Be Kept Waiting For Your Water Like We Were To Really Appreciate How Good Just One Swallow Can Be. When We Finally Got A Drop On Our Tongues It Was Like Something Straight From The Hands Of The Almighty.