What was your first word?

You don't remember, but your parents probably do. It was the moment that you really entered into the world. The world of language and communication...of using words to form thoughts and express emotion. Words can create and destroy. They cause both happiness and sadness. They have the power to both build people up and tear them down. Words bring meaning to the world around us.

Now, do you know what your last word will be?

What is your last word going to be?

Right now, you're probably thinking, "How on earth would I know what my last words are, or will be?" You're right. No one will know what their last words will be until that final moment comes. When it does, chances are that if you're in your right mind, you'll try to be inspiring and reflective. You may try to mend broken bridges or try to impart wisdom. Your last words, unlike your first, come after a life filled with experience and knowledge, and will likely mean something more than your first word did. Hopefully, they will be shared with family or friends that mean everything to you.

When you're a writer, and you spend your entire life trying to master words and language, your last words take on a new meaning. Although there isn't pressure, per say, to make your last words incredibly moving (because you're dying and there are bigger things to worry about than your last words), a great writer should leave behind greatness, something lasting; this is your last hoorah as a writer, so you should make it count.

Here are the sometimes humorous and strange, sometimes inspirational and moving last words of twelve of my favorite authors.

1. "Lord, help my soul."- Edgar Allan Poe, poet.

2. "I want nothing, but death." - Jane Austen, novelist.

3. "I must go in, the fog is rising." - Emily Dickinson, novelist.

4. “It is most beautiful.” - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet.

5. “Moose...Indian.” - Henry David Thoreau, essayist.

6. “I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been. V.” - Virginia Woolf, novelist.

7. “A certain butterfly is already on the wing.” - Vladimir Nabokov, novelist.

8. “Dying men can do nothing easy.” - Benjamin Franklin, author and founding father of the United States.

9. "Goodnight, my kitten.” - Ernest Hemingway, novelist.

10. “On the ground” - Charles Dickens, novelist.

11. “Good bye. If we meet…” - Mark Twain, novelist.

12. “Good enough. They’ll be fine.” - F. Scott Fitzgerald, novelist.