Friday, October 20, 2006

Writing Professionally

In the professional industry that I currently work in, I am usually the youngest and darkest dude in the group. The thing about business though, is that making money doesn’t have a color or age limit. If you display the talents of being a profitable servant, it doesn’t matter what hood you’re from.

Some people will disagree with my assessment and bring up the fact of how much easier it is for white Americans to make money in contrast to how hard it is on black Americans in the working world.

First of all, no matter what color you are, if you’re sitting on your butt, begging for a handout from the government or your mama, as if the world ‘owes’ you something? You can’t say sh’t.

Even the Bible teaches us to get out there and hustle like a Hebrew slave. If you don't work you don't eat, if you don't grind you don't shine.

Day to Day Grinding will keep a player shining.

So they have these things out there called lawsuits, breaches of contracts and termination of employment. There’s several writers out there who have lost their jobs because of something they wrote on their weblog or ‘blog’ as most people call it.

I had to step back and look at that more closely. I didn’t want www.servinemup.com to get me fired from my day job. Ya feel me??

I’d like to say thank you to all the folks who have prayed for me and Servinemup Ink.

I appreciate ya’ll and I know some of ya’ll must be kinda righteous, because much has been availed to me and I thank God for the direction and purpose. Everybody hasn’t been blessed to be ‘turned on’ to the Lord. Some of ya’ll are still sleep.

And it is to this fast asleep audience that my purpose has been directed toward. Despite what all the arguments people may have over how old the earth is or where Noah’s Ark is, all that stuff is more like background noise to me now. The dissensions and the arguments had to be laid to the side and I had to focus on the gospel.

The good news of Jesus Christ and what His life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension and promise to return means to each and every soul in this world. Including those who are within the sound of my pen.

Although I spend most of my time around my family, church members and close friends, I still have to deal with the non-Believing world just like the rest of ya’ll.

At work, everybody has already labeled the ‘Jesus freaks’. Those brothers and sisters at the water cooler talking about what their pastor preached about this past Sunday. Going over discussions and questions that came up in your Wednesday night Bible study. The charge to spread the gospel of Christ was never meant to be limited to pulpit preachers.

The wildest thing I’ve discovered by ‘coming out of the closet’ with my faith, is that there’s a lot of people who go to church regularly (or kinda regularly), but yet they don’t believe John 14:6.

They want to rationalize and debate their way around the cross.

My question to you is, have you ever tried Him?

Have you tasted the Word for yourself??

O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man that trusteth in him. – Psalms 34:8

So a lot of my non-Believing friends started reading servinemup.com and they started freaking out a little bit….

Maaan..I started reading this thing you wrote one day and I thought you was about to start talking about Beyonce and that fine Gabrielle Union, but then the next thing I know you had flipped the script and started preaching!!!??!!! What’s up with that???

What do you mean?

How come you didn’t tell me that you had started preaching???

I dunno..I guess cuz I’m just like most folks and when I think of preachers, I think of pulpit ministers.

Yeah..yeah, them ‘Reverends’ and ‘Evangelist’ and ‘Apostles’ and all that kinda stuff!!

I’m not knocking anybody who claims they’re using a name or surname that God gave them. I’m learning more of what it means to truly give your life to Him. I’m learning more of what it means to wait patiently on the Lord. But whenever I go into a church or a house of worship, the Spirit has NEVER moved me to get up and proclaim His Word to the people of the congregation. I go there to worship Him and to get fed on that
Bread.

So what does that mean?

It means thank you. If you see me as a preacher, that means there’s something I’ve said about God that has reached your heart. It is the purpose of ALL Christians to do whatever we can to spread the Word. The Scripture says we all should serve in the manner in which we are called. (I Corinthians7:17-24).

So you don’t think you’ll ever be a pulpit preacher?

I don’t know..maybe, I just hope nobody is disappointed if He never calls me that way.



One thing I’ve learned about this Christian walk, is that everyday is like a new beginning with unforeseen blessings and higher callings. A lot of televangelist are trying to sell prosperity wrapped around the gospel. That all you gotta do is give a seed offering and pray and God is going to make you rich!!! There are highs and lows in the Christian life. Even the most anointed are not immune to troubled times. Despite the millions of lives that Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Life has touched, that couldn’t keep his wife from being diagnosed with cancer. Even though Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a historical effort toward uplifting humanity and preaching God’s gospel, that didn’t keep him from being stabbed at a book signing by a crazy woman in New York, and it didn’t keep him from being shot and killed at the Lorraine Motel. There are no guarantees, you just gotta put on your full armour and fight hard like a true Soldiers in the Hood everyday.

I’m still working on my first book. It ain’t ready to go to print yet. I feel kinda bad, cuz I’ve had about 3 different ‘projected’ release dates already and I’ve missed every one of them. So instead of me saying when, all I tell people is ‘Not yet..I’ll let you know as SOON as it goes to print. Have you signed up for the newsletter? Cuz those will be the first people to know.”

I know a lot of people are curious as to what it’s all about. There is a preview chapter that has been released. We printed several hundred copies and they were all gone within a week.

All the response wasn’t good. Some folks said that it’s too vulgar. Even my wife told me that if she didn’t know who I was and read it, she wouldn’t buy it. My dad told me that it would be very controversial, especially amongst 'church' folks. Which is cool. There is an intended audience of the young, black, masculine non-Believing persuasion. Hood n’gz to be more exact. I wrote this book with the purpose of holding their attention and I think my editor does a fantastic job with my work.

Sooo..I’m over 1,000 words and I’ve been advised to keep my public writing to a minimal while things are being worked out behind the scenes with publishing rights, creditors and the IRS.

I’ve also been alerted that my mailbox was returning messages. Being more visible in the internet also means you’re gonna get more spam emails. I still read and try to respond to most emails (dwashington@servinemup.com), but be advised to use a subject line that will let me know that you’re not just another message from the machine.

Oh yeah, BIG thanks to all of you who have sent in pre-orders for the book. It’s still a bit overwhelming to me at times, that people would have the confidence in me to financially support my efforts, but I know it’s all a part of God’s plan and I thank each and every one of you who have ordered books for yourself and for others. Thank you.

I also know some of you have mailed in orders that were returned to you as addressee no longer at this address. Sorry for the mixup. Please be advised, the mailing address is:

Servinemup Ink
P.O. Box 330882
Houston, Texas 77233-0882

Real Game by D.E. Washington
ISBN: 097605440-X
Library of Congress Control Number: 2005902404

Retail Price: $15.00 USD


You can read the preview chapter (Intent to Distribute) here.

Just because you haven’t seen me outside in awhile doesn’t mean that I’m not pushin it. I’m just not the kind of publisher that’s going to rush to press just to make a buck. I believe in giving people their money’s worth. Real Game is not www.servinemup.com warmed over, it’s all new and never published before material. But there is a ‘Best of Servinemup.com Vol. I’ on the horizon, my kids need new shoes. (smile).

To paraphrase another Southside writer (Lil Keke’s, Pyrex Shaking)

“I’m in the kitchen with the pyrex shaking
I’m bout my game ain’t got time for no faking
I might be writing, but I’m still bread breaking (fa sho!)
Cuz ain’t no limit to this money that we making!!”


Once again, thank you for all of your support.

God is GOOD mane..ALL the time!!! - dew