No matter how far you've come, remember: the starting line is always closer than you think. - Lisa Suhair Majaj

My writing process is generally a bit haphazard. I carry notebooks around to capture ideas, observations, phrases, images, chunks of freewriting. I shift to the computer to do more substantive writing and work on craft issues. I always generate multiple drafts of pieces (keeping all drafts in a separate folder), and often experiment with form in different versions to see what fits the text best.

We learned to let our faces hide
our selves, to speak our story in a private
tongue, the past a shadow in our bones.

Today his words surround me
with the quiet intensity of growing things,
roots planted a long time ago
lacing the distances of my heart.