My Inspiration

We started this 28 years ago. I knew that you were going to be my best friend and my inspiration. I think back when you were learning how to walk, you wanted to do it yourself, no one to teach you. I marveled at your persistence and your need to always do things yourself, on your own terms. I held your hand from daycare through college. You are now a talented artist and you encouraged me to finally become a writer. It has been my pleasure being your mother as you have given me the greatest joy in my life.  You are still my best friend and my inspiration. 

Traditional publish or Self-publish

Traditional publish or Self-publish

I have been researching the difference between going the traditional publishing route or sticking with self-publishing. I have the query letter and all, however during some of my research I have come to understand that I would have to give up my first born child in order to get any real response from a literary agent. I find that it will take upwards of one year to finally get my novels anywhere. Only then, you are given royalties, and I have been the route of getting only royalties as it is based on what I sold. I have learned that royalties aren't that great anyway and you have to wait to get paid quarterly. Seeing my name in big bold letters in some famous newspaper would be fantastic, however I do not think that I would want to give blood just for that purpose. The idea of jumping through hoops, (i.e., a perfect query letter) rattles my nerves. My editor told me that I have a wonderful letter put together though. I started to think about how many letters must I send out, ultimately receiving rejection letters, and still waiting for someone to finally tell me that I have a good book and they think that they can get it to one of the publishing houses.

With self-publishing I am in control of my destination. I can sell as many books as I can get out to my readers. I can even control what my book cover looks like, as my personal cover designer is my artist son, who got his bachelor's degree in art school, so why would I want to give up control of something so important as that, since the publishing houses control that aspect anyway. I realize that I have to do all of the leg work, but I feel that it would be more rewarding that I was able to put out this wonderful idea that I had on paper and then tell people what the story is about. Also, with self-publishing their is no pressure on how many books I write and having a deadline.

I think for right now I will stick to what I know best and try to get my voice heard my way. Maybe later on I may decide to change my mind.

Until next time.......

A Farewell Letter to Teddy

     I have started my next book, a tribute to my late older brother. I have been remembering the great times we had when we were younger. He was six years older than me, but he always treated me as if I were his age. It has been a few months since his passing, but I still can hear his voice and the crazy things we would say to each other. We continued to tease each other even when he was on his deathbed.

    Teddy knew how important it was for me to finally become a successful writer and he told me that he knew that I would do well and to go for it. I didn't think at first that I would be able to write a story about him, as it is still sad. But knowing him, he would not want me to let that stop me.

Flow Conference

     I went to the Richmond Film Festival FLOW Conference yesterday. I did my networking and met a lot of people. Not knowing what to expect I took a backpack full of copies of my book Another Chance. On hand was 24 time Emmy Award winning Director Jesse Vaughan (Juwanna Man, The Last Punch, In Living Color, etc.), David Baldacci - International Best Selling Author and Producer, Jeffrey Blount - Author and Director of NBC Nightly News, Kym Grinnage - Vice President and General Manager at WWBT/News 12, Johnny Newman - Former NBA player, Jeanne Meserve - Former Anchor for CNN and ABC News, and a host of other panelists. I was so pleased that I was able to get a copy of my book into the hands of  a lot of these people. I also met a very delightful young lady, Kyle Grinnage, who really stayed on me to make sure that I was doing all I needed to do to make people aware of my book. Social media had never been my forte, however Kyle made me understand the necessity of learning how to navigate through social media and making it my "friend".
Sometimes people are put in your life for a reason and I guess I needed her to set me straight.

     So,  I will continue on my journey. Until next time....

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.

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.   

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.

  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.