Thank you, bell hooks. For all that you have written about the pain and joy of writing. About the healing and transformative power inherent in the process of writing. And, most importantly, for giving your readers such an honest account of your life experiences. I first read your work, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center, my second semester of graduate school. I was 23 then and really still quite naive. However, I’ve always remembered that book because it really did change my understanding of what it means to be a feminist. Several years have passed since then, but I recently discovered your other work. Wounds of Passion, Remembered Rapture, and All About Love. Although a bit more worldly now at 28, I still have a lot of maturing and growing to do (In fact, I would certainly hope so, as personal growth is a lifelong process). Your books have helped me along in this process of spiritual and emotional development.
I digress though. Last night, I read the essay, “Women Who Write too Much,” among many others in your book Remembered Rapture. The first paragraph superbly expresses the reasons why we choose to write. I have included this paragraph below so that others may be inspired to seek out and read your experiences with writing and with life in general.
There are writers who write for fame. And there are writers who write because we need to make sense of the world we live in; writing is a way to clarify, to interpret, to reinvent. We may want our work to be recognized, but that is not the reason we write. We do not write because we must; we always have choice. We write because language is the way we keep a hold on life. With words we experience our deepest understandings of what it means to be intimate. We communicate to connect, to know community. Even though writing is a solitary act, when I sit with words that I trust will be read by someone, I know that I can never be truly alone. There is always someone who waits for words, eager to embrace them and hold them close.
