ABSTRACT
Writing was always a sanctuary for me in my wounded childhood, a place of confession, where nothing had to be hidden or kept secret. It has always been one of the healing places in my life. At the end of William Goyen’s essay “Recovering,” he states, “It is clear that writing-recovering life-for me is a spiritual task.” Like Goyen, I believe that writing is “the work of the spirit.” Lately, when I am asked to talk about what has sustained me in my struggle for self-recovery, I have been more willing to talk openly about a life lived in the spirit than in the past. In part, I have responded to the urgency and need I have witnessed in younger black females who speak with grave uncertainty and fear as they ponder whether or not they will be able to survive life’s difficulties. And I have wanted to tell them the truth, that I am sustained by spiritual life, by my belief in divine spirits, what other folks often call “higher powers.”
