“There is joy in art. There is joy in writing. We want to make our position on this clear from the outset. It’s not that writing isn’t hard. Art pulls from life. and life—as you know—is chaotic and irrational; it can be violent; it can be bleak. Life can also be glorious, full of love and epiphany, but that’s not what we mean by saying there is joy in writing. We refer, quite simply, to that moment when—in the midst of this noisy world—a writer says what they need to say. Writing grants you a voice. And it is a joy to use your voice, regardless of whether what you say is hard or easy, ugly or beautiful.”

Sharon Fagan McDermott and M.C. Benner Dixon from the “Introduction,” to Millions of Suns: On Writing and Life