A Message From…

Terry Ann Williams-Richard, Your Personal Book Writing Coach and Founder of Personalized Educational Services, LLC

We are Courageous Voices Casting Visions while Celebrating Victories! This Writers’ Showcase is in celebration of completing our 30-Day Writing Project Challenge 2020 (July 13 – August 11). I am grateful for 16 other Sister Writers who agreed, on a variety of personalized levels of participation, to accept the challenge to join me on what turned out to be a transforming adventure. Daily Encouragement e-mails with inspirational quotes & writing tips; Weekly Zoom Call Check-Ins; access to daily interaction in the “A Writing Party!” Facebook group; and an occasional nudge or push from me are some of the benefits of this experience designed to promote daily writing, reaching writing/publishing goals, and uplifting each other. Over the next few days I will spotlight a sprinkling of the writing gifts from this magical group of courageous creatives. Today we celebrate J. Watson! Write On, Sister Writer!

Contact me: at tutor4utoday@gmail.com for your own personalized transformational writing experience.

Before Time, Now Time

by J. Watson

Whereas in the before-time, the learned ones had parceled out knowledge according to distinctions like man, woman or family clan, in this now-time they began to understand that they could no longer afford this kind of extravagance. No longer could or would they fragment knowledge gained in their centuries of learning wisdom taught by all manner of creatures, elements and circumstances. 

Red clay orange land. Sparkling obsidian black land. Rain moist. Verdant. This is how it once was and these are the places from which they had come. In this nowtime, villages burned. People were carried away. Some perished. And yet (as is the way of Life), some survived. 

With the creeping conquests old yet useful structures were felled. New ones– sometimes strange replicas– were put in their places. Elders accelerated the lessons teaching any and everyone old or young enough to learn. The minds and spirits of each were filled with as much of the knowledge as their constitutions could stand.
……
He has dreadlocks, smooth, espresso dark skin and a bright, gap-toothed smile. His face is that of a survivor. He raises trees from seeds. His home is filled with books, vinyl LPs, tapes and CDs. He owns a record player, a boom box and bluetooth speakers. He sketches and sculpts atop a flat work table. Old posters of movements and causes decorate his walls. His books are old, but unlike old electronics, they still work and offer up their wisdom. He creates levity, escaping material poverty– for those who liked to call it that– by being creative. The warmth of his heart fills the space and is palpable to any who visit it.  He is a troubadour. 

copyright J. Watson 2020

J. Watson is a mother, writer-scribbler, educator from the Texas Gulf Coast. She loves many things, including the arts and spirituality, especially that of the African Diaspora.

No longer could or would they fragment knowledge gained in their centuries of learning wisdom taught by all manner of creatures, elements and circumstances. 

J. Watson