William Edward Burghardt (W.E.B.) Du Boisย (1868-1963) sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, editor, and author. Image from AAIHS.
“A little less complaint and whining, and a little more dogged work and manly striving, would do us more credit than a thousand civil rights bills.”
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“The cost of liberty is less than the price of repression.”
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“To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.”
Akinwande Oluwole “Wole” Babatunde Soyinka, (Nigerian writer, poet, and playwright) Image from NAIJ.com
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Toni Morrison
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย (African-American novelist and professor)
ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย ย Image from Pinterest
Image from NNDB.com
Becoming a published author in 2016 was a big deal for me. Not just in the fact I had a real book โout thereโ in the literary world, but after writing for over thirty years, I wrote something I allowed someone else to read. Except for school papers and a few years of penning FanFic, that just didnโt happen.
Since the earth didnโt tilt on its axis, nor did I internally combust, I decided to go all in and take it to the next level for 2017.
In addition to four planned book releases, three online reads, and a still-untitled novel for Wattpad, I joined the Writing CooperativeโฆAND committed to the 52-Week Writing Challenge!
Yes, I am slightly off-center.
Iโve chosen character sketches, plots, and BLURBS as my one year project. I may or may not use them in future WIPs, but itโs good practice and the Literary Gods cringe with displeasure at some of the blurbs found on books.
Sorry. It had to be said. Many have poured unlimited amounts of blood, sweat, and tears into their writingsโฆand seven and a half minutes into the blurbs. Purchasing books based on covers seems to be a โthingโ lately, but the blurb is EVERYTHING. Having an amazing book cover that grabs readersโ attention is pointless if the book synopsis leaves them mentally writing their shopping list.
Do NOT send the town villagers after me with their torches and pitchforksโฆIโm just sayinโ.
You can find my first writing challenge submission here. Read it, recommend it, or leave me a comment. Do you love it? Hate it? Think I should instead consider a profession in long haul trucking, or perhaps, fish husbandry? Tell me. I wonโt breakโฆpromise.
Have a great week, and remember, itโs Girl Scout cookie season! Donโt even try to fight it – just have your money ready!
I sent out my very first newsletter Tuesday! YAAY, me!
Yes, I was apprehensive about the HTML, links, and art posting correctly. I wondered if I was babbling (kind of like now), and if I was including all the pertinent information readers who chose to subscribe to my newsletter needed (and wanted) to know.
Yet, I wasnโt 100% sure I should even be sending out a newsletter.
Stop shaking your head at me. I know the value of a well-established mailing list of engaged readers/subscribers.
I understand total dependence on social networks for exposure, and engaging readers is foolhardy.
I know the readers who subscribe (and READ) an authorโs newsletter/mailings are the strongest link in an authorโs platform.
Still doesnโt mean I wanted to send out a newsletter.
Letโs face, we all get entirely too much email, and not all our email gets our attention. Newsletters/random mailings can be on the low end (or bottom) of the totem pole. A good morning for me is when I open my email and thereโs LESS than a hundred emails waiting for me. And thatโs just from one email address. No, I do not read them ALL, and Iโm pretty sure Iโm not alone in that.
And still, I put together a newsletter. I knew I owed it to those readers who downloaded โIn The Best Interest of the Childโ. The feedback on the book has been amazing, and readers needed to know WHEN book two, โIn The Best Interest of the Child: Mother and Daughterโ would be available, as well as print versions for both books. Readers also needed to know how to enter Felicia Deniseโs Twelve Days of Christmas on Twitter and Instagram. And last, but not least, readers needed to know something about me.
So, I built, tested and sent a newsletterโฆafter saying a silent apology for adding one more piece of email to the fray.
When I opened my newsletter email this morning, it was loaded. Of course, my first thought was, โOh great! You screwed it up and they all bounced!โ
But that wasnโt the case at all.
Iโd forgotten Iโd asked subscribers to reply with their birth dates for my monthly birthday celebrations. But they didnโt just send their birth dates. Many of those who have responded so far, introduced themselves, told me their names AND ages and about their families, and asked questions about my book AND me.
AndโฆI was wearing the same big, goofy grin as I read their emails that Iโm wearing now.
Now Iโm on a mission to provide my subscribers with a newsletter that is informative, detailed, fun, worthy of their timeโฆand only once a month.
Feel free to come along for the ride โ Newsletter signup!
I can do this!
I literally began thinking about NaNoWriMo 2016 during last yearโs event, and chose the WIP I decided against for NaNoWriMo2015. I began the pantserโs version of plotting and planning right after Camp NaNoWriMo in July. Work with me here.
Outline? Check!
Synopsis? Check!
Tagline? Check!
Logline? Check!
Scene list? Oh, yeahโฆtwenty-two scenes ready to go!
I veered just slightly off course Monday morning (October 31st) when I was pulled into service to babysit for my two-year-old grandnephew, Jordan, who was too ill to attend day care, but not too ill to wear me, the mister AND Max, the dog out! My โbabyโ will be twenty-five next month, so itโs been quite a while since I toddler-wrangled. I stuck to my writing schedule, with a few changes, but accomplished little else. After a few flash fevers and several hundred Kleenex, Jordan was pronounced well enough to return to day care and left Friday morning.
The one and only Jordan!
Peace and order restored, right? Time to kick in the afterburners and up the word count, right?
Whatever.
Iโm deep into scene eleven this morning, when I noticed heroine/protagonist, Quinn Landon, sitting over in the cornerโฆarms folded and shaking her head. I knew that wasnโt a good thing. Our exchange went something like this.
Felicia: Whatโs wrong, Quinn?
Quinn: Itโs not right.
Felicia: Whatโs not right?
Quinn: That sceneโฆand the three scenes before it.
Felicia: Do NOT start with me. YOU gave me these scenes!
Quinn: I was confused. You know how upset I was with my family.
Felicia: You were not that upset. You were jumping up and down and talking a mile a minute!
Quinn: Itโs not right.
Felicia: What do you expect me to do โ rewrite these scenes?
Quinn: You must.
Felicia: Not going to happen.
Quinn: Itโs not right.
Felicia: Quinn, I am halfway through the scenes I prepared listening to you and your dysfunctional family. If that doesnโt get me to 50K, I will have more writing to do. Iโm not re-writing anything at this point.
Quinn: Itโs not right.
Felicia: Stop saying that.
Quinn: What if I stop talking altogether? What then?
Felicia: This becomes a paranormal story and you speak from the grave. George R.R. Martin has made killing off lead characters an art form.
Quinn: No! Donโt do that. I donโt want to miss out on Mason! *Swoons*
Felicia: See? Three scenes back you wanted Fletcher!
Quinn: Donโt reprimand me. Iโm a woman in crisis.
Felicia: *Massive eye-roll*
Quinn: Canโt we at least discuss this?
Felicia: *Sighs* You know none of this is written in stone. You changed your name, profession, and reason for divorcing Oscar before I even wrote a word. Just keep track, and weโll discuss it in January during the first edit, okay?
Quinn: YAY! Okay. I can do that!
Felicia: Good. Now let me get back to upping this word count.
Quinn: Umโฆcan we discuss my name too?
Felicia: Goodbye, Quinn!
Who knows what this read will end up looking like? I sure donโt!
Stay tuned!
Wow! What a month Iโm having!
I go from diligently working on finally getting my first novel published, to balancing three WIPs!
Why didnโt someone tell me this is WORK? I donโt want to work, I just want to write. Oh, well. That being said, Iโm definitely deep into it. In The Best Interest of the Child went live on September 30th โ but who knew it would have a BOOK TWO? I surely didnโt! SURPRISE! With a word count of nearly 150K, I had to back off and streamline book oneโฆand it still came out at three hundred pages! But book one has NO cliffhanger โ I loathe those! Book two will be another leg in Olivia Chandlerโs journey (and it had better end in book two โ who knows with my characters).
Since the second book is mostly written, I was shooting for a release date of somewhere between December 1 and the 15th. However, my editor is currently handling a family emergency, so I may move the release date to January. Yes, I know I could get another editor, but she did a great job with the first book and knows the story line โ why tamper with a working formula?
What will be releasing soon is the print version of book one! Iโm a big fan of print books and still buy them frequently. Okay, too frequently. But other print lovers have sounded off loud and clear. Itโs a go for December!
My NaNoWriMo project is shaping up quite nicely. The working title is โFor Worseโ (as in โfor better or for worseโ) and tells the story of Quinn Landon, who finally files for divorce from her lying, cheating husband, and believes sheโs on a new path to a new life. Only, she isnโt.ย More about โFor Worseโ as we get into NaNoWriMo country.
This is the coverโฆand please do not fall out and have a fit! Itโs just a placeholder for NaNoWriMo. I would not subject the planet to my limited, amateurish art skills. Maybe one day.
A peaceful mind can make a wonderful quote.
Bez poลpiechu, prosto z serca โ po prostu Antonina pisze.
bliskoลฤ, ktรณra ma znaczenie
Showcasing swoon-worthy African Romance reads
Inheritance. Narcissism. Turf. Welcome to the family.
If music be the food of love, play onโจ
daily foods
The Truth for Kyle
๐๐ ๐๐ข๐๐๐
Because everyone has a story. Let's talk about it.
stories, poems and more
The Power of Story
I am more than breath & bones. I am nectar in waiting.
Life is just down the road lesser traveled....
"I saw the Angel in the marble, and carved until I set him free"
Felicia Denise, Author 