Category Archives: Book Notes

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‘Lovetown USA’ Matchmaker Paul C. Brunson Offers $100 for Every Good Man…

Hello World, 

When I saw this post on Paul C. Brunson’s Facebook page yesterday, I knew I had to tell you about it! If you know a good man, please submit his name to Paul C. Brunson, and you can get $100!!! If you know don’t know Paul C. Brunson, he was one of the relationship coaches on Oprah’s new show “Lovetown USA,” which debuted last year on the OWN network. Here is a post – “Paul Carrick Brunson faces pushback, Spike Lee goes to church and other religious news…” – I wrote about him after he started getting some flak after talking about his Christian faith in interviews promoting the show.

Below are the details about how to get $100 from his blog…

Can I give you $100?

Seriously!

As my firm’s matchmaking client base expands (especially among women), our need for more men also increases. Starting today, we’re launching a new summer 2013 referral program aka “Operation M.A.N (Men Are Needed).”

It’s super easy to participate, if you know any single men in the U.S., Canada, or UK over the age of 30 who you believe to be GREAT & COMMITMENT-MINDED (could be a friend, family member, co-worker, etc)  simply tell us their name(s), residing city, and email address – we’ll do the rest (the rest includes an interview and other verification). If we accept your referral in our database and match them on a date with one of our clients, we’ll send you a crisp Benjamin! It’s that simple!!!

Please submit your referral here (be sure to include referral name, residing city, and email address in the “How can I help you” section).

Thank you for helping us help our clients (and the cool thing is if your referral ends up marrying one of our clients, we can do the electric slide together at their wedding)!

Paul C. Brunson is also the author of “It’s Complicated (But It Doesn’t Have to Be): A Modern Guide to Finding and Keeping Love.” 

I have some men in mind…Do you? I don’t know about you, but I could use an extra $100!

On a side note, how did you meet your boyfriend, fiance’ or husband?

Any thoughts?

 

 

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Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Presents An Anthology of Sisterhood THIS SUNDAY!

Hello World,

As you can see just from the home page of my blog, I love my DST! Being a part of  Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated has enriched my life more than I anticipated when I became a giddy member of DST in Spring 1995! And that is hard to imagine! The day after we were presented to the University of Georgia campus, I proudly wore a Delta baseball cap, a t-shirt with two hands formed in a huge pyramid, dangling golden elephant earrings and the matching necklace and Delta socks (if I am remembering correctly). Although my line name is “Comet,” I was nicknamed “Triple Nalia” by line sisters because of all the Delta paraphernalia I wore that day and the days afterward. It was a fun time…Since then, however, my understand of sisterhood has grown much deeper beyond all of the hype that comes with being a Delta!

Soror Ruby Dee

And this year, the year of Delta’s centennial, I am especially proud to be a member of a sorority that is just as committed to sisterhood, scholarship and service as it was when it was founded in 1913 by 22 women at Howard University! And to commemorate our centennial, some of my sorority sisters joined together to create An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red. The anthology is the brainchild of my Zeta Psi Chapter Soror Dr. Francene Breakfield. The book sprang forth from her dissertation in which she conveyed the meaning and importance of Delta sisterhood in her life from the “big sister” that mentored her as a high school student to a high school student that eventually became a “little sister” because of her influence. In fact, sisterhood has so inspired Breakfield that she formed a “support group of dissertation-challenged Deltas called ‘Doctoratebound.'” In the anthology, Breakfield, along with her co-editor L.D. Wells, coalesced 22 Deltas from 10 states who contributed more than 100 original poems, essays, short stories and lyrics. And Soror Ruby Dee, the world renowned actress, wrote the foreword and contributed a poem of her own!

“Each chapter of the book highlights a different author and allows her to share her voice and unique experience of sisterhood. Topics include positive relationships among women, spirituality, friendship, sorority life, sibling rivalry, and gender equity,” says Breakfield.

From left to right, Sorors Francene Breakfield, Neicy Wells and Katreisula Bryant Graham, contributors, along with Soror Taria Ellis Brittian, center

One of my favorite stories is about the “Sistagurl” that all women have on the inside…This is the woman that warns us when we are dealing with no good or trifling man but we continue to entertain his foolishness anyway, hoping that somehow he will change or we will change him…In this story, the author recounts morphing into a CIA agent to spy on her man to make sure he was not seeing another woman. “I would get out of my car and lay on the pavement to look under the small crack at the bottom of his garage door to see if I could see another set of wheels next to his truck. I jumped his fence to see if I saw shadows in his bedroom window.” I’m not proud to say I have been an CIA agent a time or two in my dating career…LOL…

If you would like to buy your own copy of An Anthology of Sisterhood: A Compilation of 22 Shades of Red, join contributors at Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Southwest Branch, 3665 Cascade Road, Atlanta 30331, this Sunday, April 7 at 3 p.m.  for their book launch! Books are $22. If you cannot make the book launch, you can also buy the book at sisterhood.biz, barnesandnoble.com and amazon.com.

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

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The Next Big Thing…aka My Next Book in Progress…

Hello World,

Senalda in my next book

Senalda in my next book

I’m never been one to participate in chain letters, but sometimes you have to stretch yourself a bit to grow sooo…I’m taking the plunge to participate in a writer chain letter where different writers tag one another and write about “the next big thing” that they are working on…It’s an exercise to help us formulate our ideas around our next books in progress and promote other writers at the same time…So I will answer questions about my next book and at the end of this post, you will see information about other writers…Those writers will then post about “the next big thing” they are working on and on and on…Get it?

Tempestt would be a great Jarena!

What is the working title of your book?  I’m not sure yet…It’s about being a single black woman in Atlanta in particular and a single black woman anywhere in general…

Where did the idea for the book come from? My journey as a single black woman…Now that I’m about to be married and entering into another phase in my life, I feel I want to capture the feeling of being single and wanting romantic love while I can still taste it…so to speak…

What genre does the book fall under? Literary fiction

Which actors would you choose to play the characters? Senalda, Malinda Williams; Jarena, Tempestt Bledsoe; Mimi, Goapele; and Whitney, Essence Atkins…I will have more main characters, but these are the ones I have so far…

Goapele as Mimi…

What is a one sentence synopsis? I’m looking for love. Real love. Ridiculous, inconvenient, consuming, can’t-live-without-each-other love…Okay, so this is not one sentence…And these aren’t my words…these are the words of Carrie Bradshaw from my all-time favorite show “Sex and the City.” And yes, my next big thing is partly inspired by this show…

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency? I’m not sure yet. I’m open to God’s plan…

How long did it take you to write the first draft? I want to write the whole thing in six months, preferably by my wedding date…Really, I’ve been writing this book since I was 30 years old so it should come pretty easily…Lord please…Also, I am starting to work with a critique group tomorrow so hopefully that will get me going…y’all pray for me…

Whitney in my next big thing…

What other books would you compare it to? I’m not sure yet…Am I being vague? Yes…I don’t really like to share the dish while I’m still cooking it, but I thought it would be cool to get some feedback while I can rework things…

Who or what inspired it? Chile, love.

What else about your book will pique the reader’s interest? I intend for this to be my love letter to single ladies all over…Although I will be married in a few months, I will treasure my single journey forever…after all, we came in this world alone and that is how we will leave it… I pray this book will be available in 2014. Please check out some of my author friends to see what they are up to…

“hallucination” is a story about unexpected occurrences and how they can stop your life and change it whether you are ready for change or not. This is a story of surviving some of life’s unavoidable miseries and coming out on the other side, a little wiser and a little closer to yourself. “hallucination” is a story of regular life, sudden illness and irregular outcomes. “hallucination” is NOT a story about being sick. It’s a story of becoming well…inside and out…Check out Kim Green at hallucinationthenovel.com. (By the way, she invited me to participate in “The Next Big Thing.”)

When former chart-topper Tiffany Knightly learns that she’s dying from cancer, she leaves behind her plush California lifestyle to return to Hempstead, New York, with Karlie, her reluctant teenaged daughter. Her fans think she has simply gone home to die, but Tiffany has another mission. She desperately wishes she could leave her past in the past,
but in order to secure her daughter’s future, she must tear open past wounds…This is from the book “Sing A New Song” by debut author Michelle Lindo-Rice…Check out Michelle Lindo-Rice at michellelindorice.com.

Ciara is an ambitious freshman, sure that life will only get better as she joins her long-time boyfriend at Aurbor Grove University. Before the first day of class, she’s hit with a tragedy and finds herself at the center of controversy. Raised by a no-nonsense, Christian grandmother, going to college is a non-negotiable for Nick. Once there, the study hard, play harder culture awakens a dangerous addiction that could not only cause him to lose his scholarship, but his livelihood. “Don’t Let Me Fall” is the first in The Village Series by L. Michelle…Check L. Michelle out at TheVillagebyLMichelle.com.

Any thoughts?