Being a writer is not about writing down thoughts, it's about going somewhere in your mind and seeing how many people you can take there with you.  A great writer can convince others to come along, themselves knowing that it will cause them pain and suffering.  And that is why I believe books can build true courage in a reader's heart, because they're not just turning pages, they're willingly becoming a companion to the author, just as she has become a companion to her characters, willing to be hurt, to be scared, to be starved.   Willing to be brave.  Willing to be scarred by a story they will never forget, left changed, left a little braver, and a little better friend because they know what it means to suffer with another.

That helps me remember that when I am intentionally seeing if I can make someone else's heart ache about something they never even knew they cared about - I'm not just hurting them for my own entertainment or achievement, I'm seeing if I can make them come along with me, because I have places to go and dreadful things to taste and see and if perhaps I practice long enough and dip my pen often enough, others might just be willing to come along and face it all with me.  So if I can make them willing to hurt, I can perhaps be part of the journeys that will mark them and make them a little more brave.  Brave to be wounded for a friend on a journey you needn't even be on, a story that is theirs and theirs alone, a battle they think they're fighting on their own.  And willing to meet people that can only last so long, and then say goodbye to those you've come to love.  Say goodbye and yourself feel suddenly very alone.  Yes, that is what it means to be a writer.  To help others say hello, I love you, goodbye.  To give others chances to be brave.  It is not so much about the opportunities you are affording your characters, but your readers, they are the ones walking through your worlds.  And they are the ones who will walk away with the scars on their wrists and hands.

Are you willing to bleed?