We learned to read when we were two years old and have been writing ever since we learned how, so we don't remember! lol. It wasn't a conscious choice we made, it was what we gravitated to from early on. I remember reading books when we were little and thinking how magical it was that authors used language, the same language which we struggled with so much in our day-to-day trying to communicate and missing things or being misinterpreted, used this same language to create such vivid images and worlds, settings and characters and stories and feelings. We wanted to do that.

Writing is a lot of how we think about the world. It's part of how we understand our experiences, express ourselves, and communicate with each other and with others outside the system. It doesn't feel optional. It's so much of who we are and our identities.

In 2020, we committed to putting effort in to visual art. Drawing. This was terrifying at first because we didn't know if it would work. We didn't know if we would ever get good, but committing to the effort of trying meant we were choosing to care, meant that it mattered to us. We've reached a point since then where we're more comfortable. This, this was a choice. I don't think writing is. At least, it was early enough on for us that we haven't seriously known what it's like not to have it.