I was taught to listen. This meant obeying my parents. It meant paying attention to teachers. Often, I translated this rule as to not talk, to never talk. I once held an inner competition to not speak for a whole day (yes, I won). I’d held back so long I had a difficult time even knowing what my own voice was, figuratively speaking. In high school, I started trying to find out. I wrote lots of poetry (some poems even got published). I did drama (even got some speaking lines). Writing has … [Read more...]