My Idea Of Hell Is To Be

I Never Thought Of Myself As Explaining Cats In General. I Simply Viewed The Cats I Have Known As Characters In My Life, Often As Quirky And Complex As The Humans With Whom I Have Spent Time.

Long Hair Is Considered Bohemian, Which May Be Why I Grew It, But I Keep It Long Because I Love The Way It Feels, Part Cloak, Part Fan, Part Mane, Part Security Blanket.

Pain Is A Forcing Sieve That Turns Me To Gruel.

I Will Choose What Enters Me, What Becomes Flesh Of My Flesh. Without Choice, No Politics, No Ethics Lives. I Am Not Your Cornfield, Not Your Uranium Mine, Not Your Calf For Fattening, Not Your Cow For Milking. You May Not Use Me As Your Factory. Priests And Legislators Do Not Hold Shares In My Womb Or My Mind. If I Give It To You, I Want It Back. My Life Is A Non-negotiable Demand.

I Did Not Always Know I Would Be A Writer. Until I Had A Room Of My Own, I Did Not Write Much At All - No More Than Any Other Child Who Read A Lot Of Books. I Began To Write Fiction And Poetry When I First Had A Room That Was Truly My Own With A Door That Shut And Some Measure, However Fragile, Of Privacy.