Freedom - Oh yeah, I'm all over that!

When I think of Freedom as an individual - much of the concept revolves around Financial vs. Self and the conflict between the two.  Having been raised by children of the sixties, my parents wanted nothing more for me than to be happy.

Well parents - Mission accomplished! 

Now I'm not saying I don't have problems like the rest of the world.  I have illness, bills and some debt.  I hate when simple decisions are made by financial need.  Things like going to a movie, taking a trip, or even picking up a good book.  :(

Considering these items, I'm overall happy with my life. Why? I have the freedom of writing - an opportunity to escape, to a world I love, and make some money along my journey.

These days I tend to be more of a Hobbie Writer - doing it in my spare time when I'm not working the M-F gig to pay the bills.  However, I have big dreams - I plan to gain my financial freedom with my writing.  I don't need millions of dollars, though that would be nice. :)   Thanks to said hippie parents, I've never been one to live much beyond my means. 

My husband, finally achieve his freedom to do and be what he loves.  He went back to school, and now is an instructor to student pilots.

This brings me to the second part of my Freedom concept -self.  When you have to pay bills and meet financial obligations, this requires you to have money.  For most authors this means you have to either, make enough money writing, or keep a job. For most, this tears us between writing and work.  A rock and hard place.  We need to work to make money, but sometimes a job inteferes with our creative process by consuming our time, energy and resources.

What's a writer to do?  There is a school of thought that in order to "make it", you need to focus only on your writing.  Quit your day (or night) job and treat writing as a business.  This might work for some people, but it would not work for me.   I think if I treated my creative process as work, I might not enjoy it as much.  

In order for me to achieve results as a writer, I need to achieve a sense of self.  Who am I?  How do I want people to remember me? If you're not sure, imagine introducing yourself at a community cocktail party (not a conference, not the company Christmas party, and maybe not necessarily your own community).

"Hi my name is Tina."
"Hi Tina.  What do you do?"

There it is- what do you do?  How do you answer this question?  Are you an author?  Do you get into specific genres or only when prodded?  Do you identify more with a title you have at work?  Do you identify with being a parent, spouse or some other connection? 

To say,  "I'm a parent putting two kids through college," does not make me less of a writer.  It's simply my sense of self - right now, at this time, in my life.  As I go on, I will talk about the books I write, and the fortune 500 company I work for.  Identifying my sense of self, helps give way to my goals (where I want to be), and give me a sense of achievable Freedom in my future.  

"You have freedom when you're easy in your harness."  ~Robert Frost

All The Best Things Come From Writing...

For me at least. While researching Deaf Culture for a secondary character I came across the state Relay program. Whenever a deaf, hard of hearing, or speech impaired individual needs to place a phone call, they use TTY (TeleTYpewriter) or TDD (Telecommunications Device for the Deaf) devices that to connect them to a communications assistance and from there to their party. The communications assistance or CA is a transparent agent that types everything heard and speaks everything typed, allowing the speech impaired and those in the deaf community the same effortless information exchange the rest of us enjoy by just picking up the phone.

Looking further into the program I found out that my state Relay was hiring and jumped in with both feet. It was an opportunity to leave a typical EDJ (evil day job) and pursue something that was fulfilling, non-profit, and writer-friendly. More importantly, it was the chance to learn more about Deaf Culture and move my secondary character to a primary with confidence.

See all the best things really do come from writing and the research involved. I not only got a new job, but a new story and an atmosphere to do it right. And it all brings to mind a few questions.

For the writers: Have you ever considered writing your hero (or one of your heroes, you know I love the multiples) with a disability, or who was differently-abled? If so, did you feel confident in your choice to do so? If not, do you think it is because the concept of “hero” and “impairment” don’t go together easily?

For the readers: What’s the last book you read with a main character that was impaired, but the book was not about the impairment? Did you feel the impairment was fairly portrayed and dealt with in the course of the story?

For everyone: Do you think that in paranormal fiction preternatural handicaps have replaced mortal impairments? What would you like to see explored in more depth when it comes to character diversity? Do mundane impairments make it difficult for you to see a character as a full “alpha male”?

Answering one of my own questions; the last prominent character with a mundane physical impairment I remember (and deeply love) is Nick Andros from The Stand by Stephen King. In that same story is a central character with a mundane mental impairment, Tom Cullen. Without ever thinking about them in terms of the impairments, The Stand has been and will likely always be my favorite book because the characters were people before they were anything else. The way it should be.

(M-O-O-N, that spells favorite. All of you who get the reference are my new best friends. Call me)