we all wanted this because let's face it, it's so inspiring and such a relief when people find a way to bear the unbearable, when you can organize th… - Anne Lamott

Writing like this is a little like milking a cow: the milk is so rich and delicious, and the cow is so glad you did it.

The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is that good writing is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out.

Grief, as I read somewhere once, is a lazy Susan. One day it is heavy and underwater, and the next day it spins and stops at loud and rageful, and the next day at wounded keening, and the next day numbness, silence.