"When did you become a poet?" I recently saw this question on a blog and began to consider my journey to this place. Writing has been my "thing" for as long as I can remember. I discovered writing when I about 6 years old. A group came to our school and taught us how to write haiku. I wrote something deep and profound in those three little lines. The instructors thought it was great as well as the other pieces my classmates wrote. A few weeks later, they came back and handed out mustard colored paperback books to the class. The haiku written by my class, poetry and artwork of other students were all contained in that book. I didn't know little kids could create a book! It absolutely blew my six year old mind! I continued to write throughout Junior High and High School mostly as an outlet. I was raised in a very strict household where children were seen and not heard. Writing was the only way that I could clearly and freely express myself. I put writing aside following the birth of my daughter and as many women do, I chose to focus on family needs, which meant putting aside my desire to write. As happy as I was to be a new mom, I felt like I gave up a huge piece of myself. I don't recall who said it, but I heard a quote once that said something like, if you wake up each day and can only think about writing, then you are a writer. That quote entered my mind many times during the years that I was not writing. About five years ago, I decided to "get me back." I picked up my pen and started writing poetry and began to feel whole again. I was a happier person, but didn't consider myself a poet at that point. As long as I was writing for myself, I could only consider myself an avid journal keeper. I did not believe I could be considered a poet until I took the risk of sharing my work with others. I started by sharing my poetry in blogs and received great feedback and encouragement from other writers. Then I took the greater risk of sharing my work with family and friends. It's one thing to receive negative feedback from a stranger, I don't have to encounter a stranger on a daily basis, but opening myself up to friends and family was one of the hardest things I've ever done. Family and friends can be tough critics at times, so when my family gave me praise and encouragement for my work, I was thrilled! Now that I've done the hard thing, sharing my work with my cozy network of online friends as well as with family, I've decided to put a few of my poems together in a book and present this gift to you. I'm expanding my boundaries! Nike Binger Marshall