I have survived my first month as your new Managing Editor, due in no small part to the patient and diplomatic tutelage of Shannon Lawrence. My heartfelt thanks go to each of you who have sent an encouraging word along with your submissions.
I had my inaugural post planned and ready to write when I heard the news about the passing of Maya Angelou on May 28. Her voice crossed over two centuries and I believe will still be heard in the century to come. Many of us write hoping our words will outlive us but at the same time that hope can be daunting, almost paralyzing. I sometimes agonize over the way my writing will read two years from now (let alone 20) to the point that I am unwilling to let anyone look at it.
And then I bring to mind one of Ms. Angelou's best-known quotes. "A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song." We don't write because we have the answers, but because we have a story. Mine may be off-key. It may not stand the test of time. But there is only one way to find out.
A significant life of letters like Ms. Angelou's reminds us that the craft of writing is a sacred trust. It is my personal opinion that the written word is in trouble and it is up to those of us who believe clear, graceful prose and masterful storytelling will always matter to resuscitate it. Hold your heads high, writers. You are part of that effort.
About the Author: Debi Archibald is a Colorado Springs native but spent most of her life wandering both the Arizona desert and healthcare administration. She is now blissfully reestablished at the foot of Pikes Peak. She has one very bad novel under her belt (and in a drawer) and a second, hopefully not so bad, underway. In addition to fiction, she ventures into humor and short memoir. A recovering foreign language geek, she is also passionate about hiking, cooking, reading and being a grandmother, the role she is sure she was born for. She shares her home with the world’s most human Siberian Husky, Sasha. You can find out more about Debi at her website: http://pikespeakpen.com/
Well said!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Ms. Hagan!
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