Look and Listen

Biography

Three generations before I was born my people entered treaty with the US government. A treaty of words, it changed everything. It changed everyone. Words are powerful—words incite change…. Choctaw. Descendent. All people feel pride for their culture. I have pride and love for my ancestors. I thank them for the spirit gift of storytelling and I try show them honor with the message of my stories. Time passes. Fleeting. There’s not time to focus on who I am. There is only time—to find the words needed to fill the pages…. - R I Warner

Inspiration

Writing is all about the way an author can bend and twist words to squeeze a reaction out of the reader. The best writers—masters of our time—such as KING…have been influencing and affecting culture for years. Stephan King in his autobiography On Writing compares writing to tangible telepathy. Following his logic writing is the transference of a person’s deepest thoughts into the future. The eyes of a reader scanning the page, seeing a message that has been perfectly preserved, and communicate by two individuals separated from distance and time. If words are carefully crafted they can be quiet efficient—in purpose. King also says—that writing is something that cannot be taught. I don’t attempt to have an opinion on that subject—he’s writing and he’s been doing it since, before I evolved from zygotic. His autobiography On Writing was written when I was still a snotty-nosed teenager, bitching about reading Salinger. Oh how little youth knows and how loudly we PROFESS it. Woolf—if I may paraphrase—says that a woman writer needs a room of her own. A place of her own that she can go to—to write unafraid of what others will think. In her time women needed the financial means to provide themselves such a place. Women still need the courage to rise above societal expectations and write boldly. King—says write often. Get up early if you have to—make an office out of a broom closet, but find a place where you can write—and when you come to the page. Don’t come lightly. I agree with them both—it takes courage to write. It takes determination to find the time. It takes strength to put your thoughts down on paper and then eventually out there for the world to judge and see. You have to learn to overcome fear and press forward. It gets easier each time though. You have to find the time to write and if you I promise the words will come. Once you overcome the fear you start to feel free—and that’s when you create. That’s when you discover all the wonderful thoughts lurking inside you. Creating without fear—is the best part of writing.