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| Freelance writer, free agent, English teacher, Roxanne writes, |
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| Freelance Writers, Academic Writers, Memoir Writers, Welcome Home...to the Words and How They Empower Us A Free Agent's Writing Support of New Writers with Memoir, Academic, and Other Creative Tasks |
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| December, 2004 |
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| Words wield power. We all know, consciously, unconsciously, intuitively, that words have remarkable power. And most of us will be able to give examples. Freelance writers will be the first to tell you what power a wrong word in a document has when we mean to offer the “best job possible” and because we miss it in the final proofreading we hit the send key and email an offer to do the “breast job possible.” Academic writers will recall what the teacher’s bloody red pen did to their attitudes toward writing and to their egos, when returned work had words like “terrible,” “awk,” or “Don’t quit your day job.” Memoir writers will report in narrative comparisons the difference, in high school, between being called “Foxy Roxy” and “Sweaty Betty.” And history will remind us that words misused and/or misunderstood will go from “concessions” to “ultimatums,” causing the bombing of Pearl Harbor; from “Stay in the house or we will kill you” to “Stay in the house and we will kill you,” forcing Afghanistan residents to walk the warfields. (1) Words yield powerful results. I discovered, like most freelance writers, fiction writers, most writers do, that words were the keys to my freedom. I used them to talk my way into being allowed to sleep over at a friend’s, drive a car, go to a party; and then to talk my way out of punishments for actually sneaking into the prep school dorms down the street, actually racing in the car, and actually getting busted at a party that turned out to be a bash in an alley with a case of beer. So as a teen, I mostly used words to keep me sane when I was exiled to my room for six months at a time—because the talking of words hadn’t worked. But as an adult, I have witnessed words at their most influential. As a full- figured person, I have used words as positive affirmation, and lost weight. As a friend of many who pray, I have seen their chants make illness disappear. As an advocate for our elders I have watched words put in memoirs free fifty-year fears. As an English teacher, I have trusted words to inspire confidence that was corroded, to turn word worrying into wonderful writing, to turn writing dread on its head and turn heads toward graduation, diplomas, degrees. And as a freelance writer, I have made words work as my main source of work…which I adore. Positive words have positive effects. Empirically proven to have a measured vibrational frequency, (2) words have a vitality to encourage, to influence, to impact. We can speak to our bodies in a way that will positively change their shape or condition. We have seen how fitness and yoga gurus have metamorphosed, turned off pain, walked on walls of fire, by chanting and thinking words...or a single word. (3) We can speak to our egos and elevate our self-esteem. We have seen how meditation and mantras have made psyches glow. We can use the positive words of prayer to heal, give and receive love, grow and evolve. We have seen people like the man who talks to water (4) change the chemistry of a property with the alchemy of words. The freelance writer knows this when he creates web content that shines; the English teacher knows this when she speaks in words that make her students laugh. The web copy gets readers interested, the humorous classroom or text gets students learning. Words connect us, heal us, keep us sane. Positive language brews banquets of love and brings on baskets of love. Meaningful words bring in money, create beauty, and make and keep us free. You might have figured out by now: I am a word loving writer...a freelance writer, a free agent memoir writer who helps our elders create their own memoirs, their own power, a writer of poetry and of creative nonfiction whose focus is disability writing, a web content writer and former English teacher/writing instructor who specializes in education, entertainment, psychology, and philosophy...in anything that enhances our intellectual, spiritual, emotional, and physical well-being. I tell you this because (besides showing off) I want you to know how dedicated I am to words, to writing, and, especially, to writers. I live with creative and intelligent artists and musicians; I grew up with a mother and a sister who are brilliant artists; and even my Dad is one in his own right, crafting whole houses from imagination. I honor imagination, and want you to do the same, especially when it comes to your own or even when it comes to my helping you find and use your own. Welcome to a place for your words. This is why you are here and why I have created this website of words for you: in a safe, private environment (where no one steals your email address, no one blasts you with ads, and no one forces anything but fun, you will imagine, read, respond, be responded to, imagine and write, and write some more. In this space you can honor yourselves as novice freelance writers, memoir writers, creative writers...will honor your right to the most positive of experiences and the most positive of words. The right words have influenced and impacted positively, changing childhoods, affecting countries, altering careers. Helpful, healthy words heaped on us with love and lots of attention have helped us cast off the deleterious and damaging and despicable. Words are the best thing that ever happened to us. I hope this site becomes one of the best things that ever happens to us, as well. Respectfully, Roxanne Works Cited (1) Bunting, Chris. “Tongue Twisters.” <www.chrisbunting.net/babel.htm> 14 Dec. 2004. (2) GlobalPsychics. "Watch Your Language!" <www.globalpsychics.com/lp/ Tips/words_of_power.htm> 03 Dec. 2004. (3) Smith, Adam. The Powers of Mind. New York: Random House, 1975. (4) Gordon, Sari. "He Talks to Water...and the Water Talks Back." Sept/Oct 2004. Utne. |
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| *Extra Credit - I found this line in my quote collection, one which I started in the 70's. The only authorial credit I could find was that which I use above. If anyone knows the full source, I would welcome the correction. Roxanne |
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| Graphics, "Testimony" and Post-modern Objectivity," created by TC Design at |
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| Colored academic books with apples clip art made possible by Classroom Clip Art |
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| Home page graphic and Celtic clip art throughout by CeltDidital |
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| RoxanneWrites logo by cooltext.com (must be a member, however to visit, or you will be bombarded with a message box--to get out, keep hitting X) |
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| Credit for old-fashioned clip art goes to 8ung and |
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| Miniature clip art and SITE MAP graphics provided by GRAPHICREALM. |
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| Background spiral notebook graphic crafted by |
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| Graphic Shakespeare characters and Edgar Allen Poe created by DownloadFreePictures.com |
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| Color sketches of famous authors provided by The Write Market |
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| This site is dedicated to all those who believed in me and all those who didn't. Roxanne |
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| All contents of www.roxannewrites.com © protected by U.S. copyright laws |
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| I found me a place where I can do me some good without doing any harm. ~ Sarah in Canby's Van* |
| The opposite of war is not peace, it's creation. Mark Cohen, character in "Rent" |
