What my parents taught me about writing — and why words and language must function, not just be beautiful.
Formation Under Constraint
Formation Under Constraint: The Making of a Writer
This series explores the influences that shaped my voice, values, and approach to storytelling — not as identity claims, but as formative pressures. These posts look at how family, region, faith, illness, class, and craft discipline taught me what reality demands of a story.
Identity and intersectionality are important, thoughtful concepts. But they aren’t the most honest way for me to begin explaining how I was formed — as a person and as a writer.