You are valuable! Get up on your feet

I went to the best primary school in my locality; a house converted to a school that sat atop a clay hill.

This description doesn't sound posh but the storey building had a working computer, fairly good teachers in basic subjects and a decent population of students. We even had foreign students at a time!

Somehow, the quick passing stories rolling out from crèche to Primary 6 caught my young eyes in Primary 5.

There were rumors of carers using sleeping pills to keep infants asleep all day; rumors that primary 6 boys liked primary 4 girls. These were news worthy, I thought! One time, we learnt that Uncle Emmanuel liked the Aunty that taught in Kindergarten. Such glorious gossip,I wouldn't miss!

I ran to my most familiar tools. Took a pen and a paper and formed a 'press club' with representatives in each class to keep the gist coming. Before long, kids were reading my puerile attempts at journalism.

I kept writing for free, to anyone who asked me to, for every magazine that will have me,even if it was at no cost. During a strike action in university, I strove to write for PUNCH at my own cost even. I got this close to being a columnist until top-notch politics and school resumption had the better of my dreams.

I swore to write everyday in my second year and I always have done so even when the only opportunities have been pro-bono.

I'm not close to where I want to be in my writing. I still have the plot- artistry of Chimamanda Adichie to aspire towards and the picture-building prowess of clergy-writers like TDJakes as an ambition. Here on steemit, @phunke often makes me feel like I scratch with the turkeys while he flies with eagles when he writes.

@nesis easily oppresses me with his ability to knit grandiloquence with clarity( a skill I once excelled at only in grandiloquence but not clarity,LOL).

@paradise-found has taught those who read from him, by every post, the sheer magic of classic simplicity--a kind I can only replicate if I wasn't the one writing...

I'm at a juncture straddled between and betwixt the possible excellence that freelancing has brought me and the unquenchable desire to inspire you to roll your sleeves up to work your passion out,for free!

You get to learn the ropes of your abilities best in lonely and cold gymnasiums; training without a crowd paid to watch you or an audience chanting your name from punch to punch.

Here, your knuckles are sore and they bleed as your fist meets the bag. There is no scream of pity. It's just you and the sound of your gut...until money hears from afar and rewards your dedication in the pit.

Don't wait till you 'hammer' to do things. It might be too long a wait. Your chances of fame and prosperity most often lurk in the corridors where you perform with matchless passion even without pay.Happy first sunday of the month!