Talkin Bout

Oh, I hadn’t even told you about my last speaking engagement at FIU. Remember I was nervous because I didn’t know what I was going to say to these budding writers. It took me a few days but I got my presentation together.

The night before the presentation I put on the finishing touches and clicked the save as button to save it to my disk so that I could take it with me. Then it happened- my computer froze. I tried unsuccessfully to reboot my computer five times, but it wouldnt even turn back on.

It was almost 2 am by then and I panicked, woke my lil sister up and asked her to fix the computer. She had some problems at first but she got the computer up and running but it wouldn’t allow her to save it to the disk. Quick thinking reminded me that I could just email it to myself and open it up when I got there.

The next day I was pumped as I walked onto the empty college campus. I smiled at the young students who were attending the journalism day. It was so funny, these kids were wearing matching t-shirts, repping their school’s respective newspaper staff. They looked like gang members but their weapon of choice was the mighty pen.

My session began at 10:25. I stood in front of the audience and, ~poof~ like magic, it all came together. When I tell you that I know that I know that I know that I am called to speak, uplift and teach- I’m for real! The students in my workshop responded well to my lesson. They were taking notes as if I had the key to life in my presentation.

There’s nothing like teaching a group of people who are hungry to learn. The entire time they were writing furiuosly and smiling up at me. Even the teachers were nodding their heads in agreement to the tips and stories I told about how to become a better writer.

As the presentation went on I noticed more and more students coming in to my workshop. The place was almost full by the time I ended. After the presentation was over, a crowd of people rushed to the front to shake my hand and tell me what a great job I had done. One teacher remarked, “I just want you to be able to put a face to the name that you will see because I definately want you to come to my school to speak to my students.” I nodded and smiled and she continued. “You can talk about writing or whatever else you want to talk about, they just need to meet you.”

Another young lady said, “I was in another workshop but I had to leave. The lady was so dry and stiff. I wish I could have been in here the whole time because you were great and I learned a lot. Can I keep in touch with you, ya know, just in case?” Ofcourse!



Another group of young ladies stayed talking to me for a good while about blogging and technology. They were so excited because I recommended blogging as a great way to develop your writing skills. Their school had banned blogging because they thought it was too dangerous and they asked me to come and speak to their administration because everyone blogs and they wanted the restriction lifted.

I beamed, excited that a few more speaking engagements would come out of this. Man, the feeling that you have valuable knowledge to share is unmatchable. To think I may have inspired one young writer to go for the gusto brings tears to my eyes. More than I want success for myself, I want success for the young people I am trying to reach out to. I want them to realize their purpose in life and to go after it with everything in them.

I remember I wrote one time: “There’s nothing like knowing your purpose in life. What you were put on this earth to do.” There isn’t. There are a lot of people who haven’t figured it out yet but I say, there is SOMETHING in your heart. It may not be grand plans to save the world but there is some contribution needed that only you can fill.

All in all, I give myself a B for the presentation. I spoke way too fast, they couldn’t keep up with me and I could have had a few more pictures. But the look on their faces as I spoke, I will never forget that. The hungriness in their eyes gave me chills.

I have become the woman that I wanted to be. When people look at me they say, “There’s something about her- and I want it too.”

Yeah, there’s something about me. A deep rooted knot linked in my soul. If you pay close attention you’ll see what it is, and if you ask you’ll get it too.

Affirmation for the day: Right now I am exactly where God wants me to be.