We are the holders of pens and the lovers of pages. We are the bangers of keys who multi-save to the cloud—just in case. We are the tellers of tales, the authors of essays, and the source of those greatly-needed grants. We are the screamers of poems. We are writers and we believe…

…in never judging a book by its cover. Or a person, for that matter, since people—both real and imagined—are the stuff all stories are made of.

…that sometimes the words someone really needs to hear will not be found on tongues, but between pages. So we must work with care, and write with truth, integrity ever our guide.

…that, while necessity is the mother of invention, practice is the father of skill. And that dude is big. So we must keep writing.

We believe that nothing is as daunting as a blank page—or more forgiving and unresisting. And that as writers, we must endeavor to be more compassionate, at least as merciful, and just as welcoming as that blank page.

We believe that, like the farmer, we must harvest and store the fodder of darkness and death in one season, so we can make light and life of them in the next;

…that since words are like spices in a sauce that simmers all day, there is nothing the writer-chef can do to hurry flavors’ marriage. Unless, of course, there’s a deadline. Then those suckers are coming together. Fast.

We believe that writing is as sacred a joy as leading a congregation, feeding the hungry, or tending the sick, and that editors are its holy priests and priestesses;

…that before we can tell the truth of our characters’ toils, we must first offer radical acceptance to the agonies, joys, and plain old humanity of our own.

We believe a writer has nothing to lose by trying and everything to lose by refusing to, since when confidence wavers, passion will carry. (At least…we think it will.)

We believe that regardless of our gender, just when we begin to ache with the dullness of postpartum project exhaustion and we swear to never trust our own minds to move in concert with that pervert Keyboard again, we’ll find ourselves pregnant with another piece whose name we’re yet to even realize. And we’ll be glad for it. So glad.

And lastly, we believe that the use of the Oxford comma is totally worthy of discussion, argument, and reasonable, calm debate. And that’s final!