Monday, February 23, 2015
Richmond International Film Festival
I am currently preparing to attend the Richmond International Film Festival on Saturday 02/28/2015, the Flow Collective Conference segment. I can not wait to find out how this will assist me in reaching the next level in becoming the author I hope to become.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
An excerpt from Another Chance
Here is an excerpt from Another Chance:
Ninety minutes
into the flight, Jay was getting slightly anxious herself. She started to feel
restless and realized she needed to use the restroom. Rising from her seat, she
glimpsed something outside the window that caught her attention. Kneeling in
her seat, faced pressed against the window, Jay wanted to see exactly what this
was.
One of the flight
attendants approached her. “Ma’am, is everything all right.”
“I’m not sure. I
thought I saw a flash of light near the wing,” Jay explained.
“Maybe it was just my imagination,” she continued.
The attendant
walked away and Jay continued to the restroom. She stayed there a while just to regroup. As Jay exited,
something else caught her eye. The flight attendants were rushing about and
huddling in a group. Unbeknown to the attendants in the rear, Jay overheard a
portion of their conversation.
“We can’t alarm
the passengers. We have to remain calm,” said one.
“What is going
on?” Jay thought to herself.
Standing in the
doorway with a bewildered look on her face, she was curious about what had just
transpired. As Jay cautiously returned to her seat, she carefully looked out
the windows as she passed by them, not wanting to cause suspicion. She started
thinking about what she had just overheard and what she thought she had
witnessed outside her window. She felt she needed to investigate further. Most
of the passengers were asleep or reading and were oblivious to what was going
on.
One of the flight
attendants rushed up behind Jay, “Excuse me, please. I need to get by you.” Jay
just stood, again bewildered.
“That’s it. Something
is wrong, and I want to know what is happening,” Jay said out of frustration to
herself. She looked around and got the attention of one of the female
attendants who quickly approached.
“Yes, ma’am. Is
there something I can help you with?”
Jay stood and stared a few seconds with a
scowl on her face and responded, “Look, not that I was eavesdropping, but I overheard
a conversation between you and your co-workers. I was almost run over by
another one as I was about to take my seat, and I saw a light flash outside my
window. I want to know what is going on,
and I want to know now,” Jay firmly demanded.
The flight
attendant was rendered speechless; she tried to calm down Jay but suddenly
there was a shift in the plane. Jay and the attendant fell on the floor of the
plane. Something was horribly wrong. Lightning had struck the right wing of the
airplane. As they were collecting themselves and regaining their footing, the
other attendants rushed toward the cockpit.
“Ma’am please sit
down and strap on your seat belt,” the attendant said to Jay, rushing away. No
sooner had she said that, the lights came on for everyone to strap into their
seats. The other passengers started to
panic.
“Oh my GOD! We’re
all going to die,” screamed one.
“Everyone please
take your seats and put your seat belts on,” cautioned the attendant.
Jay looked out
her window again and saw that the wing was on fire; cold chills went over her
body. She got the attention of the attendant she had just spoken with to make
her aware of the situation. The attendant took off to alert the pilot.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Food for Thought
I have often wondered why we do not reach our full potential in life? Why do we insist on working the typical 9-5?
I know that most of us are taught that to
survive and have the things we want in this life we must work for someone else,
to ensure that we have happy, safe lives.
For so
many years I bought that idea. I ended up working 11 different jobs, never the
same thing, for over 30 years. I was always unhappy and would see other success
stories that made me wonder why am I not doing what I want to do. I actually
made myself sick getting frustrated with what I had to do every day.
I had those Sunday blues, that feeling I get
when I know that the next day is Monday, time to do what I dislike doing for
another five days. Every 9-5 is not awful,
but really when I know
deep down within me that there are other things that I could be doing, and
should be doing, I cringed every time Sunday approached.
My decision was to do something about this situation. I could not take it anymore. I had the wild idea that I needed to quit my job and finally do me.
My decision was to do something about this situation. I could not take it anymore. I had the wild idea that I needed to quit my job and finally do me.
The
trick is I have to know exactly what it is that I am talented at. Am I really,
really great at this or just good? I know that my talent is writing. I love to
tell a story. I love when people get excited about the stories I have to tell.
I
am not saying that I know exactly what I am doing, but I had a talk with GOD,
and I prayed every day. One of my younger brother's coworkers told me that I
had to live more years than I had left to live. Really? Never had I thought of
it that way, but it was true.
We tend to get complacent and never do what we dream of doing. "Step
out of your comfort zone," I was
told. I was scared to death of the unknown. I was either going to bite the
bullet or live the rest of my life wondering what if.
I had
written my book Another Chance and
self-published it in 2006; however, I really did not do anything with it and
went back to work for a former employer for another eight years. In the
meantime the people who had read the book when it was first published asked
about a sequel, as they wanted to know what had happened to the characters. I
obliged. It still sat for another six years, until I knew that I could not
waste any more time.
This
year I am turning 50, and I couldn't wait any longer. My older brother had passed
away last year at 55 years young, and he told me to do what I needed to do to
be successful. I thought about that as well as about the fact that my father
had died at 71, and he had not really done a whole lot with his life. It was
time to spring into action and take back my life, or rather live my life.
Generally,
we as a race do not believe in ourselves enough to live out our dreams. I am
not saying that what I decided to do will work for everyone, but I think about
a few weeks ago, when I went to mail a copy of my book, the postal
representative asked me if I had written the book. She had always wanted to
write one, but somberly she informed me that she probably would have to wait
until she retired and that she was 59. That made me sad for her, Lord knows I understand that we are
programmed at a young age to work until retirement. Then we can live our lives,
but by then it may be too late. A lot of us are not living a long time anymore.
I hate to hear it said in a eulogy that the departed worked for whatever
company for so many years, retired, was able to do some things, but died at 65.
I am sorry, but that is just not enough for me. I want to be able to do
the things I want to do while I am still young-ish. Working for someone else
and making that person money have been issues for me for a long time. Corporate
bigshots make millions a year, and the employees make 20k-50k a year. Food for thought.
I
am taking my decision to be a full-time writer one day at a time. I decided to
step out on faith and do this for myself. I will keep you posted on my journey, good times and bad.
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