What You Need To Be A Writer

After the college reading, the eager students gather. They ask me what you need to be a writer & I, feeling flippant, jaunty (because I am wearing an 18th century dress & think myself in love again), answer: 'Mazel, determination, talent, & true grit.' I even believe it- looking as I do like an advertisement for easy success- designer dress, sly smile on my lips & silver boots from Oz. Suppose they saw me my eyes swollen like sponges, my hand shaking with betrayal, my fear rampant in the dark? Suppose they saw the fear of never writing, the fear of being alone, the money fear, the fear fear, the fear of succumbing to fear? & then there's all I did not say: to be a writer what you need is something to say: something that burns like a hot coal in your gut something that pounds like a pump in your groin & the courage to love like a wound that never heals.