I'm Me, And I'm Here, And I'm

I Have This Theory That Anything That Happens To You That Leaves You Alive And Intact Can Be Used Somewhere In Your Writing.

I'm A 48-year-old Writer Who Can Remember Being A 10-year-old Writer And Who Expects Someday To Be An 80-year-old Writer. I'm Also Comfortably Asocial -- A Hermit In The Middle Of Los Angeles -- A Pessimist If I'm Not Careful, A Feminist, A Black, A Former Baptist, An Oil-and-water Combination Of Ambition, Laziness, Insecurity, Certainty, And Drive.

The Essentials Are To Learn To Shape God With Forethought, Care, And Work; To Educate And Benefit Their Community, Their Families And Themselves; And To Contribute To The Fulfillment Of The Destiny.

Better To Stay Alive," I Said. "at Least While There's A Chance To Get Free." I Thought Of The Sleeping Pills In My Bag And Wondered Just How Great A Hypocrite I Was. It Was So Easy To Advise Other People To Live With Their Pain.

Rejections Are Painful, But Inevitable. They're Every Writer's Rite Of Passage.