“If I was lonely, if I was afraid of being alone, then why abandon myself? Why run to someone else looking to give myself the thing that only I could give? I wanted to escape myself because I felt empty, and the emptiness frightened me. But obviously, I was empty because I was always running out, running away. The only way to fill the emptiness was to remain, to take up residence in myself.”

American writer

Norah Vincent was an American writer known for her columns and essays in major newspapers and magazines. She wrote regularly for the Los Angeles Times, The Advocate, The Village Voice, and Salon.com, and her work also appeared in The New Republic, The New York Times, the New York Post, and The Washington Post. She drew wide attention in 2006 with Self-Made Man, a book based on her eighteen months living as a man. Her writing moved across politics, culture, and public life, with a reporter’s eye for experience and identity.