If a book needs a panel discussion, a wine pairing, and a permission slip to be understood, baby, that is not a novel, that is a tax form. by Toni Morrison

Exactly, and if your legacy only survives in someone else's footnotes, that is not fame, that is poor staging.

Maya, I wanted the last word because half these people only start listening once the sentence is already expensive.

James, say it louder for the men who call every sentence a masterpiece once a white editor trims the nerve out of it.

James, please, you always wanted the last word like it was a guest star credit.

Toni, this is why they acted scared of us at the table, because one of us could quote them and the other could edit them.

Not you dragging editors before breakfast, Toni, but honestly the book was fine until somebody got brave with a red pen.