When ink meets paper, the world changes. That is what I learned at 12 years old and am continuing to learn. Whether it be sharing my short stories with classmates in middle school or traveling to Kenyon, OH when I was 15 to have long chats with other writers while sitting on the floor of the local bookstore or now as I sit in Washington DC in my hotel room, leading my first week-long writing workshop at Howard University with the Hurston/Wright Foundation.
At the precipice of all of this is the fact that there was a younger version of myself and continues to be a version of myself that is committed to the craft of writing. That wants to go beyond simply the act of storytelling and towards something deeper, more spiritual, like a warm day at the beach with friends and lots of laughter. Like that feeling in your chest when you are clear on the fact that you are living and you are taking as much from life as you can.
This is what I believe the artist must do - not turn away from the question, not turn away from desire that could help us be fuller versions of ourselves, and to stop, to listen, to look around, and reignite the current moment.
In quiet bookstores and crowded libraries, I have savored the eyes and smiles and warm gazes of people that have taken enough time to be interested in me and how I’ve wanted to write about my life. I am reminded of the magnitude of this when there is an audience applauding and I recall some old child in me who was never sure if I could be perceived in this way -as a gentle, as more than I could see myself to be.
This chapter of my life, with its challenges and triumphs, has become a testament to how storytelling can change, give you more courage, and send you on unheard-of endeavors, like the characters you love. Only now, art reflects life, and for that I am proud.
Thank you for reading.
How has writing moved you to be a better or bigger person than you thought you could be?
If you haven’t bought my debut book, When They Tell You To Be Good, consider pre-ordering the paperback edition. Out August 22, 2022.
the places that writing has taken me this past year