Can You Read This?

Today I'm working on an article for a special edition in our local newspaper about adult literacy.  I work 15 hours per week (plus) for Literacy Volunteers, a local non-profit affiliate of ProLiteracy America.  I'm also a tutor and a tutor trainer.  This will be my 4th publication in Local Voices on the topic of adult literacy.  I could go on forever it seems about the merits of helping create a more literate society.  In my community alone, one in seven are functionally illiterate.  I just can't even imagine not being able to read or write, especially in this day and age.  How I have taken it for granted.  Now raising an awareness for adult literacy has become a passion of mine.

Now on my 4th article, it becomes a challenge for me to write about the same topic in new and creative ways.  Yet, this time I realized I already had some fodder for the article, so I don't have to reinvent the wheel.  We are currently engaged in an awareness campaign so I decided to write about that and feature the volunteer who has worked with our organization for almost 2 decades.  What dedication!  She has tutored nearly 20 adults during that time. Not everyone is cut out to be a tutor, but there are many ways to get involved.  If each one can do something to help others know about this modern day plight perhaps we will find someday we all live in a more literate society.  Imagine the difference that could make.

(Click to view larger image - Literacy Unlocks the Treasure)

To learn more about the impact of adult literacy visit ProLiteracy.

My Literacy Articles:
Literacy Volunteers - Waterville's Best Kept Secret
Literacy is Good for the Economy

What cause is important to you?  Do you write about it?

Haunted

I find myself being haunted by my writing.  Try as I might to put it down at times, it forever beckons me. Meriam-Webster defines haunting not only "to visit or inhabit as a ghost and to have a disquieting or harmful effect on", but "to visit often, to continually seek the company of, to recur constantly and spontaneously".

Just when I was trying to cut back and readjust some of my activities, some new projects came in -  non-writing related.  I'm busy with some website work which is a good earning opportunity and I'm thankful for it.  Although my writing had to be temporarily cutback, it is not cut off.  That would be impossible. Those stories are forever floating around in my head and you just never know when some little tid bit will come to mind.  I make sure I jot these down for later insertion.  Paper and pen are with me everywhere I go. 

Sometimes I'm at the store, other times driving, or trying to get to sleep. I can't remember when it happened, but this week I named a character.  It just came to me out of the blue and it was so profound for me.  I had struggled over the name months ago and then there it was.  And there is more to the name than the name itself.  The name truly defines the character.  Saint.  Actually, it's his last name.  Saint is the prefix to his surname and folks have taken to calling him "Saint" for short.  He is conflicted over this, insisting that he aint no saint, yet strives to live up to the calling. He is full of contradictions. I got so excited that I wanted to return to the story right away, but alas, no time.

I remain haunted.


Are you haunted by your writing?  Tell me.