A love for writing that started in elementary school has budded and grown into an undeniable passion for Valincia Richard.
The 36-year-old, who was born and raised in Blaine, now makes her home in Indianola with her husband, the Rev. Rodney Richard.
She has authored two books—including a book of poetry—and has co-authored another project that is a collection of women's stories. "I love to write. That's my plan one day to just settle down and just write. Nothing more, just write and be able to go and visit my patients whenever I can."
She currently works as a certified clinical hemodialysis technician at a renal care facility in Greenwood.
Richard lays no claim to having any formal creative writing training. “I haven’t been to school for writing, it started when I was in sixth grade. Stuff started to happen in my life and I really didn't have a relationship with anyone else, no friends…no nothing and paper and pen became my best friend."
Richard said she just wrote her thoughts out and usually they were in the form of poems. An in-school poetry competition during Black History Month is what she credits as the real spark that ignited her passion for poetry.
“We had to write poems about Martin Luther King and stuff like that and from then on it was just ongoing, writing poetry," she said.
Sadly, she doesn't have many of her original lyrical attempts. "I know a lot of my poetry got trashed by my auntie when me and my cousin Tashika (Williams) had gotten into some trouble. She took it and trashed it at Parker Estates." Richard said that she and her cousin would sometimes write poetry together; however, her cousin's mother disposed of a lot of it.
Richard said that she and Tashika engaged in a lot of activities together from things like cooking and writing to getting into trouble.
According to Richard, her cousin has also been published in a collection of stories compiled by Turning The Page Publishing founder, Erica D. Boyd.
Richard said the destruction of her earlier verses dampened her spirit, but by the time she reached the eighth grade she was reinvigorated. She said, “After things started to transpire in my life again—stuff that was beyond my control—I was sitting around waiting on my dad to show up and he never showed up. Me and my mom, we didn't have the best of relationships, so all I could depend on was my paper and my pen."
Her first literary publication was entitled “Melodies From The Heart.” The book is comprised of poems that cover a variety of topics. "You've got your gospel, you've got your romance, talk about mothers and fathers; just all different kinds of genres together," said Richard.
She said her aspiration in writing the book of poems was to encourage and uplift people because you never know what a person is going through. "And I also talked about my husband and my children in it too. So it's really a good book. It's a collection of all different kinds of poetry," Richard said.
Richard added that she and her husband have a blended family of four children and now a grandson.
Her other solo project, which she said has taken the longest to get published, is entitled “Beaten, But Not Broken.” It tells the story of a woman who gets involved with a younger man who appears to be everything that she wants him to be, kind, honest and adoring. But, she later finds out that he is not the person she thought.
Without disclosing a lot of detail about what the woman encountered in that relationship, Richard did state that in the end the woman was victorious.
Richard acknowledged that all of her inspirations for her writings come from God. She shared that one day while discussing her ideas for the book with a co-worker, the co-worker revealed that she had experienced some of the same issues and as a result Richard said she decided to dedicate the book to her to remind her that God still performs miracles every day.
Richard said the book is not necessarily based on the co-worker’s experiences, but is indicative of a lot of women's experiences.
Richard is also one of the writers in a book comprised of stories from 12 different authors. The title of the work is, “It Didn't Break Me, It Built Me, I’m Still Standing.” "It's about my testimony. The stuff I've been through in life," she said.
Richard asserted that the book can help people who have experienced many trials. "When you've been through a lot, being molested and a lot of stuff and you think, like why this had to happen to me."
She said although everyone's outcome is different, "I want to encourage somebody that your outcome don't have to be what you think it should be because there is a God. And God takes us through different things for different reasons and if we just hold on, we're going to come out of it. We’re going to become victorious. God will make a way," Richard said.
She expressed her joy in having experienced God's favor time and time again.
Richard’s book of poetry and the compilation were published through Boyd’s company and she praised Boyd for how attentive, helpful and professional she has been in working with her, something that Richard stated cannot be said about the publisher of “Beaten.”
“I signed with them almost two years ago; I was 34 and I just turned 36 today. The connection just wasn't there, but with Erica she's kind, she's dependable, she's a God-fearing woman and I don't have to run her down for anything,” Richard said, “She was right there; she kept me updated, she let me know what was going on and she is just the right person and I wish I had met her two years ago when I first set out to publish a book.”
Richard said she connected with Boyd on social media after she saw that her cousin had collaborated with her on the compilation project. She talked with Boyd in December 2020, contracted with her in January 2021 and her first publication was released mid April.
Richard said, “I just hope that it can help somebody. My main focus is to help somebody because you never know what people may be going through and how they might be feeling. Some people feel like committing suicide, feel like giving up, when they shouldn't because there is a God and God can bring you out of anything.”
She paraphrased the scripture from the Old Testament book of Psalms 121:1-2 and asserted that she is a strong believer in the power of God.
She credits her great-grandmother as being her motivation, her encourager and her everything, her go-to person. “And I just wish that she was here today, she taught me that whatever I do, stand on the promises of God because he won't fail me and I hold on to that, that's what keeps me going.”
Her next undertaking is a short story entitled “A Season of Thanksgiving” that’s due out in early 2022. Richard expressed her thanks to her husband, their children and her church family for their continued support and Boyd for all of her help. She also expressed her gratitude to her mother, Brenda Mickens, for being her “greatest inspiration.”
