Why I Write: Notes Straight from the Hip

By Jay Thomas Willis

This is a book about the author’s writing career. It shows the blood, sweat, and tears that went into his writing: his background; why he must write; how he got a grip on the writing process; and how he began to write for his life. He suggests that everyone has a purpose in life, and writing is his purpose. He also puts forth the idea that there is nothing better than a writing career. There is beauty in writing and expressing oneself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 6, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669819530

Jay Thomas Willis

Jay Thomas Willis graduated from Stephen F. Austin State University with a B.S. degree in sociology. He also graduated from Texas Southern University with a M.Ed. in counseling, in addition to receiving a MSW in social work from the University of Houston. Willis has held numerous social work positions.

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Copyright © 2022 by Jay Thomas Willis.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the

product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance

to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 04/05/2022

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

841766

ALSO BY JAY THOMAS WILLIS

Nonfiction

A Penny for Your Thoughts: Insights, Perceptions, and Reflections on the African American Condition

Implications for Effective Psychotherapy with African Americans

Freeing the African-American’s Mind

God or Barbarian: The Myth of a Messiah Who Will Return to Liberate Us

Finding Your Own African-Centered Rhythm

When the Village Idiot Get Started

Nowhere to Run or Hide

Why Black Americans Behave as They Do: The Conditioning Process from Generation to Generation

God, or Balance in the Universe

Over the Celestial Wireless

Paranoid but not Stupid

Nothing but a Man

Things I Never Said

Word to the Wise

Born to be Destroyed: How My Upbringing Almost Destroyed Me

Nobody but You and Me: God and Our Existence in the Universe

Got My Own Song to Sing: Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome in My family

Random Thoughts on My Reality

A Word to My Son: A Celebration

Messed-Up Kid

Off-the-Top Treasures

Going with the Flow

Man’s Basic Purpose

God Told Me to Tell You

My Life and Times: Some Personal Essays

Life’s Lessons: Some Passing Thoughts

Fiction

No Worldly Options Except Suicide or Schizophrenia: But God Has His Own Plans

You Can’t Get There from Here

Where the Pig Trail Meets the Dirt Road

The Devil in Angelica

As Soon as the Weather Breaks

The Cotton is High

Hard Luck

Educated Misunderstanding

Dream On: Persistent Themes in My Dreams

Longing for Home and Other Short Stories

Poetry

Reflections on My Life: You’re Gonna Carry That Weight a Long Time

It’s a Good Day to Die: Some Personal Poetry About the Ups and Downs in My Life

Dedication

To every teacher who tried to teach me—especially my English teachers.

"A neighbor once told me, ‘Get a good

education, because you are not big

enough to do construction work.’"

"My father took one look at me and

caught the next bus out of town."

"A so-called friend once told me, ‘You

can’t attend college: you can’t write.’"

"My mother’s legacy was to maintain her

small-dirt farm for as long as possible."

"Find something you enjoy doing and do

it as much and for as long as you can."

"Everyone deserves an opportunity

to pursue his or her purpose."

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

I: My Beginnings on the Farm

1.   The Early Years

II: I Write Because I Must

2.   Lower Un-Education

III: Getting a Grip on Writing

3.   Higher Un-Education

IV: Writing for My Life

4.   Not Just a Super-Masculine Menial

V: Summary

5.   Moving Forward

About The Author

Acknowledgments

Thanks to my brother wade for all his support during my early years. He bought me what I needed, took me where I wanted to go, bought me a car, and motivated me to do well in school. I can’t praise him enough.

Thanks to all those who helped me see beyond my situation and what was possible. They are too numerous to mention.

Thanks to the Balance in the Universe: the one and only Almighty God.

A general thanks to all those who withheld judgment, and didn’t block my progress, when they could have easily done so. No action is action.

Thanks to all those who have helped me along the way, but I haven’t thanked them before.

Thanks to my wife, Frances, for supporting me in every way possible, and always being there, and always coming through.

Thanks to my dad for not completely abandoning the family and at least providing a partial role model. Being away from home approximately 300 days a year for twenty years, he could have completely given up on the family, but he never gave up.

Preface

This book is for the young and not so young at heart. If the author had such a book when he was growing up, he could have been a much better writer today. This book clarifies some important points about writing. It demonstrates that we never know what life is going to hold for us, and that we have more potential than we realize. It is meant to motivate those who might be thinking about a writing career. It considers why the author writes and his process of development as a writer. In this book the author considers his background, why he must write, how he got a grip on writing, and the process of writing for his life. The book is about pursuing your writing purpose. Everyone has a purpose. Your purpose is a decision between you and the Almighty God. There is no better purpose than to write. There is beauty in expressing oneself by using a pen and paper. It doesn’t matter from where you start: you can have that writing career.

I: My Beginnings

on the Farm

1

The Early Years

How I Got Started

My family background. I was born in Hallsville, Texas, a small town in rural East Texas. Spending most of my time plowing a mule on a fifty-acre-dirt farm from sunup to sunset. There were a few commercial farmers and ranchers in the community, but most people had discontinued farming. I think farming reminded them too much of slavery. Some people had moved to larger cities: Dallas, Fort Worth, the Gulf Coast, or out of state to places like California. This was in the late 1950s and was on the tail end of The Great Migration. My mother was conditioned to farming. She wasn’t about to let the farm go. It was all she knew. Without farming she would have had nothing to live for. My father tried his best