Oprah Winfrey Network delivered one of the best Master Class sessions when it shared Dr. Maya Angelou's insight and wisdom. This singer, writer, poetess, actress, professor, and so much more, has battled with real physical demons and inner fears to be one of the most respected and revered icons. Here are a few thoughts from her interview mixed with my thoughts as a writer.
Love Liberates
"I am grateful to have been loved and to be loved now and to be able to love, because that liberates. Love liberates. It doesn't just hold—that's ego. Love liberates. It doesn't bind. Love says, 'I love you. I love you if you're in China. I love you if you're across town. I love you if you're in Harlem. I love you. I would like to be near you. I'd like to have your arms around me. I'd like to hear your voice in my ear. But that's not possible now, so I love you. Go.'"
As a writer of romance fiction, I write stories celebrating love. My stories don't answer if the couple will be together in five years. It doesn't answer if the couple will be celebrating their thirty grandchildren way into the future. For me, it's living in the moment with the hero and the heroine. It's celebrating that courtship period where romance blooms and the world and its wonders make them feel alive and liberated. In those stories, there are life lessons on loving because I firmly believe that you can't love others without learning to love who you are. Those romance stories with their happy endings stir our humanity and our empathy to be more sensitive or caring or loving with each other.
Becoming Who You Are Meant to Be
"What I think it really means is: I'm a teacher. I am a teacher. I teach all the time, as you do and as all of you do—whether we know it or not, whether we take responsibility for it or not. I hold nothing back because I want to see that light go off. I like to see the children say, 'I never thought of that before.' And I think, 'I've got them!'"
Many of us may have several roles in our life journey. Some occupations we go after and others fall into our lap with the right timing. Whatever role we take on, cherish and learn from it. No role is static. You continue to learn, develop, and gain the ability to share your insights, the pros and cons, the paths to success and pitfalls to avoid. I can say without a doubt the romance writing community are a nurturing bunch of men and women who have earned a well-deserved reputation for helping each other and mentoring those interested in pursuing their writing dreams.
Who You Really Are
"If a human being dreams a great dream, dares to love somebody; if a human being dares to be Martin King, or Mahatma Gandhi, or Mother Theresa, or Malcolm X; if a human being dares to be bigger than the condition into which she or he was born—it means so can you. And so you can try to stretch, stretch, stretch yourself so you can internalize, 'Homo sum, humani nil a me alienum puto. I am a human being, nothing human can be alien to me.' That's one thing I'm learning."
Writers face a lot of self-doubt in this wonderful vocation. If we dream bigger than our condition, we tend to keep it to ourselves or share it with a select few. However, at the very least, we want success whether it is measured against a certain author or we want to chart new waters. I find that having a great supportive group of family and friends helps me to stretch even when I think that I'm done stretching. My critique group, Rockville 8, especially has the perfect dynamic to encourage what I already dare to dream.
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