eureka

"Diamonds are Forever... forever..", lyrics of the beautiful songs of Chaka Khan that I am listening right now.

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10:05pm

"Hi TM Archie, you busy"? That was me calling Archie, asking help.

"How can I tell TM Jojo that I want to backout? I am not prepared and I have not even written a draft yet?"

"You should have told me earlier. I could write one for you", he replied

"I need an idea"

"Talk about your life, before and after Toastmasters. What is brought to you"

While talking to Archie, I noticed that the background song has changed. What caught my attention was the lines

"I remember when I was a little girl, I saw my house caught up in flames.... While shivering in my pajamas, I asked my self, Is that all there is in fire?"

Eureka! I saw the light! hahahahaha.

I readily said goodbye to Archie and starts making bullet points for my draft. I will use Archie's suggestion as the anchor of my speech, I will build up my story by recalling the event of my child hood, and then, subdivide it with an event that creates a segment of my lifeline.

My first lines goes like this:

I remember when I was a little boy, I grew up a close neighborhood of relatives. They all live a life in full, while we linger on the brink of poverty. Then I asked my father, ''Is that it, we will settle for a life like this''?

* * * * *

I was only planning to make a bullet points of ideas, then deliver the speech the Table Topics way. But the drizzle of ideas turns into thurnderstorms. It was flooding my brain and I know, I will drown if I will not release it in writing.

And after four long hourse, I made one draft.

It could have finished it earlier. But I wrote and re-wrote many lines that I could not feel, the words that I could hardly pronounce, and the complex paragraphs that I could not remember. In the end, I finished a draft that is straight forward and direct to the heart.