I write because I cannot NOT write.

I write because I've always written, can't stop. I am a writing animal. The way a silk worm is a silk-producing animal.

All I have is a voice.

It is only through writing that I become myself

I have a voice, too, and for good or evil mine is the speech that cannot be silenced

The only reason that I write is to bring about a change of heart. But I wanted to do that when I was five, when I first endured racial discrimination. I would like to change that person's mind and heart about the way they see me, about the way they feel about me. But I had no power then, and I have power now. It's called a pen. Or in this case a computer, yeah?

I am a writer an a singer of the words I write I am no speaker nor any politician an my songs speak for me because I write them in the confinement of my own mind an have t cope with no one except my own self.

I write with all my heart

There was something I wanted to feel, and I felt it only when I was writing.

In the rare moments I permitted any stillness, I noted a small fluttering at the pit of my belly, a barely perceptible disturbance. The faint whisper of a word would sound in my head: writing. At first I could not say whether it was heartburn or inspiration. The more I listened, the louder the message became: I needed to write, to express myself through written language not only so that others might hear me but so that I could hear myself. The gods, we are taught, created humankind in their own image. Everyone has an urge to create. Its expression may flow through many channels: through writing, art, or music or through the inventiveness of work or in any number of ways unique to all of us, whether it be cooking, gardening, or the art of social discourse. The point is to honor the urge. To do so is healing for ourselves and for others; not to do so deadens our bodies and our spirits. When I did not write, I suffocated in silence.

I write just because the fire of my emotion is burning. Had I not, I would not have been able to find peace.

"The Voice

There is a voice inside of you
That whispers all day long,
"I feel this is right for me,
I know that this is wrong."
No teacher, preacher, parent, friend
Or wise man can decide
What's right for you — just listen to
The voice that speaks inside."

I'm just going to write because I cannot help it.

I will write: for myself, for those who come after, and for the voices that cry out not to be forgotten.