NEW! Check out my sister site at:
http://web.mac.com/norabaskin

Truth- I started writing seriously in 5th grade. I began with poetry.
All I remember about my first poem, was that it had something to
do with reincarnation. It was short but startlingly profound (so I
thought). But what I remember most was my teacher’s reaction.
She loved it. My life was changed. I had discovered the power of
words.

By 6th grade I was writing short stories and keeping journals.
I read constantly and my early writing was always influenced by
what I was reading. At one point I became interested in Helen
Keller and Annie Sullivan. I wrote a short story, in first person,
about a blind and deaf girl struggling to express her thoughts.
By high school I had attempted my first short novel, weaving my
life into the events of World War II. I was a Jewish girl escaping
Nazi Germany after my mother’s death and searching for my
missing father.

Writing was my way of articulating all the emotions and all the
drama I found myself exploring during those years. Even my
senior thesis in college was a jumble of feelings and experimental
writing based on my life experiences. It was, of course extremely terrible.

I think I was trying to make sense of all the confusion and
unanswered questions. And I believed I could find some kind
of truth if I put it down on paper. I was young, and I believed in
words- as my father would say. Now, I’m not so young (not as
young) but I still believe in words.

However, it did take me a long time to realize that truth is only
the way you remember it. It is all in the interpretation. I realized
that my truth was mine to manipulate. And I began to write fiction.
I was finally able to care more about the story than the facts. Take
what you need and what you want and let go of everything else.
And the amazing thing was when I did just that , I was free. I was
free from the burden of my own history. I was free as a writer to
create. To write.

©2005, Nora Baskin