Chapters in this book

1. Front Matter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction 1
5. “I Am Me But Who Am I?” 11
6. “You Never Let Me Speak” 39
7. “Questioning Myself and the People Around Me” 57
8. “You Gotta Be a Writer to Get in the Game” 73
9. Pregnancy, Pimps & “Clichéd Love Things” 101
10. “My Work Sparked an Interest in Someone Else” 119
11. “I’m Book Smart, Street Smart & Everything in Between” 135
12. “If You Can’t Write You Can’t Succeed” 155
13. Epilogue: Where Are They Now? 161
14. Appendix 165
15. Notes 169
16. Works Cited 173
17. Index 181