A couple of months ago, I was invited to speak to a group of students on “Career Day” about my work as an associate editor at Good Faith Media. A ten-minute talk, I didn’t expect it to mean so much to me until I started writing. I knew when the title came to me, “Life is a Writing Process,” that the moment was important.

To be sure, I take all my commitments seriously, regardless of the age of the audience or number of persons in attendance. Because writing is a spiritual practice for me. 

I believe that words have creative power, that they can mold and shape realities, that they can break the human spirit or free it. For this reason, I take words very seriously and even despise small talk. 

My elders would say, “Keep your mouth off of people.” Like the writer of Proverbs, they understood that words have life-giving and death-dealing power. They are not just letters, mere squiggly and sharp lines, but can capture the essence and energy of a person.

I once heard Maya Angelou