Free Lance Writing

My first recollection of writing was about when I was nine years old or so. I recall that my family did not much like my passionate personality and encouraged me to write my thoughts and feelings down instead of yelling, arguing, or whining. It certainly changed my life. My parents were avid readers so they did not mind if I ask them to read what I wrote and give me helpful hints. I was born with a lot to say about everything and so writing down my passion for life, as well as, my happy and sad times enabled me to calm my vibrate personality. You know way back then they called it passion, energy, artistic, and talented; But throughout my life I have noticed that many people are not given an outlet for their thoughts and feelings and thus end up self medicating or overuse of prescription drugs; or live their life sadden with the burden of the frustration of not being able to voice their ideas, thoughts, nor feelings. What a shame that is?

As a professional advocate for more than thirty years I had the pleasure of being the voice for those who had no outlet for their wants, needs, thoughts and feelings. It was pretty consistent during all those years; none of them seemed to be able to be themselves in the environment they lived in nor were they able to identify ways to give themselves a voice due to the barriers others give artistic, creative, and passionate people. I was blessed being born to parents who were rebels and refused to stifle me or my brothers; we were able to be our complete selves. Of course we had the law and order rules and the be accountable and self responsible rules but we were given the opportunity to be different than our parents and grandparents. All my life I have met people who were children and adults but had no respect for their own ideas and remained clones of their caregivers. Devastating to say the least. What if Socrates, Edison, Wright Brothers, Paul Lawrence Dunbar, Mahalia Jackson, Mother Theresa, Rosa Parks, or any vibrant individual had not done their best to think, write, feel or invent.

It's heart-wrenching to me to be aware of others who are afraid to voice their opinions, thoughts, and feelings that are creative and healthy. Oh, I have read and heard those that hate the world, don't like themselves to respect others difference but they are truly a minority in this world. I am so thankful that my parents, grandparents, and other relatives; including those that were not blood but heartfelt kin. What happened to the support and encouragement for all of us, especially young people to think, problem solve, and heal through writing. Are we so dependent on computers that we have lost our creative passionate to express ourselves the old fashion way.

One of my barriers of my writing was my English teachers when I was young because they were so dead set on absolutes of writing. I understood the rules of the English language but sometimes I wanted to use the language we spoke; Melungeon Appalachian; instead of the King or Queen of England's way of using English as a creative expression. I could not contain myself when I was in school because the words of my kin's everyday language would just pop out on the page without me even realizing it. My natural words are not: you; its ya-ll', its not "Please visit us again." It's, "Now ya-ll come back when ya are fixin'' to be round!".
I don't think of natures beauty by the horticultural terms instead I think of them as the flower, tree and rock people. Nature sustains itself so why do humans interfere with the graciousness of wildflowers or the gifted powers of Mother Earth/Nature, Father Sun/Moon or Kinship with the seasons. My teachers forced me to learn the "proper way to talk, write, and communicate," which is exactly why I am a free lance writer; I had to get my voice heard through my own words; cultural terms, not Great Britain's nor some foreign rules of exactness.

The greatest tip I had was ,"Life saving ",because for years I just wanted to talk through . .writing.Some of my mentors throughout my life; family, teachers, professors..told me I was a natural artist, writer etc...and assisted me with examples of different ways to express with descriptive words and how to write depending on who the reader's would be that received my words. Secondly, as a professional I have used all that glorious proper English to write reports for work and college but as a free lance writer I have to be me; a passionate advocate of life that thrives on natural cultural slang/dialect.. . The second greatest tip was from my family and kinship mentors who taught me to start by just letting my thoughts and feelings of my inner voice flow naturally like a waterfall and then after I was done expressing - then apply whatever spelling, grammar, or punctuation needed so that my readers would have an easy read.
Thirdly, I read, not as much as my relatives, but a great deal. I read all forms of writing to learn process and how to find exact words that fit whatever I wanted to say in my writing.

It was years before computers and spell-check..came along and so I had the opportunity to look up words everyday in the dictionary and learn what was similar and different in spelling and use of the English Language. During my studies at Antioch College in Yellow Springs I had the honor of taking writing courses with a Master Writer who taught me to use my natural way of describing as I wrote and combining that with English Writing rules that are consistent.
For example; My natural writing expression was as follow: I hate it when folks ain't gonna be nice to folks different from them. My Master Writing instructor/professor gave me assignments to find new and exciting words that said the same thing but was more readable to more people. The change she
helped me with is as follows: My heart is so angry and full of sadness that some people are hateful to those different from them in views, ways, heart and soul.

My voice today,as I write this article, is to say I want all children and adults to know and love themselves enough to express their passionate love of life through writing. The only hard parts are finding a starting place and an ending place that is respectful and meaningful to readers. Thanks for listening to my voice through reading my words voiced from my heart and soul,"my natural waterflow". May your voice be heard with the graciousness it was written with for all your days.