Writing Across Genres Has Made Me More

When You're In The World Looking For Only One Thing, You Find It Or It Finds You. The Obsession Can Be Mutual

Try To Think Of Writing As A Gift - More Complexly Put: It Is The Curse And The Cure.

You Learn To Exploit Genre For The More Important Things - To My Mind - Like Story, Character, Image, Language.

First, You Hand Over Some Basics-overwhelming Joy, Existential Angst, A Giving-in To Desire, Etc. And Then You Promise To Withstand Talking Idly About The Weather, To Encourage Cliché, To Uphold The Virtues Of Average. You Hand Over The Need To Be Understood And, In Return, You Get A Bar Of Normal Soap. And You Can Wash In It And Be Daily Reborn To A Safe World Of Modest, Enduring Love Or, At Least, Mild, Well-mannered Bonding.

My Childhood Was Marked By The Great Fear Of Nuclear Holocaust. We Practiced Our Civil Defense Drills, Lining Up In Hallways, Curled To The Floor, But We Knew We'd Die Or, Worse, Survive Only To Suffer Radiation And Slow Death.