Remembered Rapture

I began reading Remembered Rapture by bell hooks (yes, her name is all lower case for specific reasons) two weeks ago. It's not a long book, just 237 pages which I would normally be able to get through in a few days. My reason for procrastination is the fact that hooks is writing about writing and the obstacles she's faced personally and professionally. She writes not just about her obstacles but consequences of the racist and sexist industry that is publishing. As an aspiring writer from the age of two when I would scribble pages upon pages and then some more pages I have yet to write anything beyond school papers and personal poetry. To be quite honest Remembered Rapture has scared me several times, and like any scaredy-cat, I have put the book away on more than one occasion. I am confronted by hooks' words, "To talk about one's life-that I could do. To write about it, to leave a trace-that was frightening" (p. 82). This book is a good one for any aspiring writer, especially if you're grappling with moving from writing privately to publicly. I am at p. 189 and hope that I have the courage to finish this week :/

~Whitney