I find that words have power as well. I’ve loved creative writing, since I was a fourth grader. When I was in either  the fifth or sixth grade, I won second place in a creative writing contest. I’ve dabbled in creative writing in high school, but the thing that made me want to be a writer was the introduction to New Stories of the South 2001, edited by Lee Smith. I won’t go into the details here, but I encourage you to read the book to see how she can inspire people to write their own stories.
Thanks, Kaz for such an inspiring post.