“i write because there are stories that people have forgotten to tell, because i am a woman trying to stand up in my life. i write because to form a word with your lips and tongue or think a thing and then dare to write it down so you can never take it back is the most powerful thing i know. i am trying to come alive, to find the distances in my own recesses and bring them forward and give them color and form. i write out of total incomprehension that even love isn’t enough and that finally writing might be all i have and that isn’t enough. i can never get it all down, and there are times when i have to step away from the notebook to turn to face my own life. then there are times when it’s only coming to the notebook that i truly do face my own life. and i write out of hurt and how to make the hurt ok; how to make myself strong and come home, and it may be the only real home i’ll ever have.” —natalie goldberg