Why I Write

Getting the Hookup The celestial hookup. The writer James Dickey once said, “My writings come to me ‘Over the Celestial Wireless.’ " He was simply saying that he felt he received his writings through some higher power. It was a gift through a direct line from God and Heaven. This was the only way he could explain his prolific ability to write masterful prose and poetry. This struck a familiar chord in me because I felt a similar way. In this way, writing can be considered a gift, and I wouldn’t want to squander a gift from the Almighty God—and this is another reason why I must write. Many ministers will say a higher power provided them with the message they delivered, because they weren’t adequate to do it by themselves. They frequently ask this power to help them deliver their message. Also, many ordinary people give the responsibility for direct-ing their path to a higher power. I give credit to the higher power in the universe for directing and guiding me in my writings. My writings must come from a higher power in the universe. For, I don’t feel adequate to write the things I have written without some help. My background is not impressive, I am not a trained, skilled, or knowledgeable writer; a higher power must have supplied me with the words, directed, and guided me. It’s that way with most of my writings. Again, this is another reason why I write. Need to write. For some reason, I have always wanted to write. I didn’t write much in elementary, junior high, or high school; but always felt I enjoyed putting words on paper. In college this became more apparent. This was a fact regardless of my poor English skills. In college and graduate school, I got the idea that my writings needed some work. This was a fact, not because I was intellectually deficient, but because I had not been taught the finer points of writing. Settling down in Chicago. I grew up, graduated high school, went to college, joined the Navy, was discharged from the Navy, went to graduate school, and moved to Chicago. We first lived in an apartment for two years, but soon purchased a four-bedroom brick house in one small suburban community in 1976. We later purchased a two-story, red-brick, five-bedroom house, in another small community in the South Suburbs of Chicago. We bought the house in 1998 in June. The house was on a tree-lined street in a pleasant neighborhood, and it was a nice home. There were many friendly neighbors, good-positive schools, and good shopping. It was a better community than the one we moved from, and we liked the house better, it gave us more room. Going Into Overdrive Beginning my writing career. I retired on disability in 1991 and spent more time reading and writing for the next twenty years. Before I retired, I had never been one to spend a lot of time putting pen to paper. I began to read books mostly about human behavior, Black current events, and about the writing process itself. Since I retired, I don’t have to write for a living. That’s not to say I don’t need the money. I can recall sometimes when I certainly needed more money. I got into writing purely by accident. After I retired, I wanted to do something as an avocation. I simply tried my hand at writing, though I knew my writing skills needed to be developed. It took me years to work through my neglected elementary, junior high, and high school education. It took college, graduate school, and years of reading. Then it took me even more years to overcome the social aspect of college and graduate school. I am still trying to overcome my life experiences. I began writing for my life. Finding productivity within myself. At this point I do feel Like I am writing for my life. I’ve been writing since 1991. I felt I still had some productivity in me. The thing I thought of was writing. So, I began to write. I felt I had to do something which reflected my education and not let that education be a total waste. I started by writing academic articles. I received many rejections, and I finally did begin to get the hang of it. After publishing fifteen articles, I decided to try for something that paid. So, I tried writing for magazines. I was mostly rejected but did publish several magazine articles. I wanted to make it lucrative. Then I tried to write for newspapers. I was able to get some monies for my work. Then I decided to write a book. I was able to enjoy the whole process. I Have now been writing books for many years. I have published 39 books, written 15 professional journal articles, written over 350 Op-Ed Commentaries, and several consumer articles. Writing for me was a long process in the making. It took many writing-correspondence courses and a lot of reading. Not to mention I have two Bachelors’ degrees, two Masters’ degrees, and worked on a Ph.D. at two different universities. Dealing with rejection. I have gotten tons of rejections, and still get rejections. For a writer, rejections can be a way of life until one gets the hang of it. Some of the best writers get many rejection slips, sometimes even on a book that later becomes a best seller. Getting rejection slips are kind of like sports casters picking who’s going to win in an NFL football game. Nobody knows who’s going to win. It depends on which team decides to bring their A-game that day. It’s not the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog. For a book, it mainly depends on what matches with the publisher’s program. Be sure you know what a publisher is looking for in a manuscript—cut down on the rejections. Check out the Reader’s Guide to Periodical Literature. It tells you what kind of materials publishers are looking for.