Sometimes when I tell people all the things about my family of origin and I tell them I’m a poet, they have that ah-ha moment. Oh of course you are a writer, you grew up with That!
So where does this come from? I’m sure there are plenty of writers who come from perfectly nice families. Is there a higher percentage of family disfunction for little kids who grow up to write poems? If so, why? You don’t have to have an “exciting” family life to write about — I rarely wrote about my family until the last few years.
Sometimes I feel like people think I would have ended up like Whoever in my family who is dysfunctional if my writing hadn’t saved me, given me the creative outlet.
What are your thoughts, writers? Nature or nurture?
Renee Emerson 
thoughts?