Posted on Sunday, September 8, 2013

To everything there is a season…Cherishing my 40th Birthday…

Hello World,

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Ecclesiastes 3 in which we are reminded that time is not arbitrary, there is a season for everything in God’s world…And now is my time to turn 40 years old…I thank God that He allowed me to reach this milestone in my life…I don’t like the idea of aging but such is life…aging is a blessing especially when you consider the alternative…

As I reflected about my life on my birthday (which was actually Sept. 7), I realized that some of my birthdays in years past were bittersweet…I was always grateful that God allowed me to live another year, but I was confused about why some of my oldest dreams had not come true…I remember when I wrote one of my most introspective posts “Hope. Wish.. Pray…” at the end of 2008, the year that I start my dear blog…Below is an excerpt…

For today, I have decided to hope, wish & pray that my dreams will come true…According to the Word, you are to “delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4 When I first read this verse years ago, I thought it meant that God will give you whatever you want if you serve Him. I know that’s not true now.

Now I believe that if you come to know the Lord in an intimate way, He will guide you to your true desires – that is He will give you the desires He has for you. He will guide you to your God-given destiny. So over the years, God has shown me what are my false desires and what are my true desires.(I no longer desire to date a man from every continent, ha,ha, for instance.) Anyway, two dreams or two desires remain…at least for today. Well, that’s not true. I have more than two dreams, but I am thinking of two in particular…(What dreams do you think I am referring to? Guess?)

I had two dreams that I desperately longed for but did not reveal in that post…I wanted to meet and get married to the man God kept for me, and I wanted to be a published author…And it seemed for a long, long, long time, no matter what I did those two dreams eluded me…I literally chased them and every time I thought I was getting closer, all of a sudden it felt all of my chasing was for naught…But I now know that I was on time all along, it just wasn’t my season…And FINALLY, God saw fit to bless me with the right man, and He blessed me to become a published author…So this is a new season in my life…I don’t know what awaits me, and I’m still hoping, wishing and praying for the best…I’m thinking about new dreams too…

Happy Birthday to Me 🙂

Any thoughts?

P.S. Since I moving on up in age, I decided to post Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up.” This captures how I’m feeling….

Posted on Monday, March 4, 2013

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

Hello World,

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?

Posted on Sunday, February 10, 2013

Reflections: After the Altar Call a year later…

Hello World,

My Delta line sisters with copies of my book at the release party…

A year ago today, a long cherished dream came true…My first book, while officially released on Feb. 14, 2012, was presented to friends, family members and supporters on Feb. 10, 2012 at my book release party…It was the visual culmination of a lot of behind-the-scenes hard work…I worked hard to get a book deal…It took me 7 years…I worked hard to secure interviews with one of my favorite Christian celebrities Sherri Shepherd and Bishop Vashti Murphy McKenzie, the first female bishop of the A.M.E. church and the granddaughter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated founder Vashti Turley Murphy. I worked hard to get women from all walks of life to share intimate details of their lives and about their personal relationships with God so that other women would be encouraged. I labored in prayer to God because I wanted the book to blessed by the Holy Spirit. I planned out my marketing and promotion time line six months in advance of the book release to make sure I could get as much publicity as possible. If you want to know more, read this “I’m Bout It Bout It aka Marketing & Promotion Month 7 (And It.Don’t.Stop.).” I.WAS.DRIVEN. And I could go on and on…And I have had some good results regarding best seller lists, various accolades, etc.

But a year later, while the best seller lists, various accolades have meant a lot to me, what matters most is this…And I haven’t shared this story before…On the night of my book release party, I was a little perturbed that the venue where my party was held wasn’t entirely shut down for my party…I guess that’s neither here nor there a year later…But anywho, needless to say, there ended up being a few guests at my party that were not expressly invited…LOL…Remember that happened in the family reunion cookout scene in the movie “Poetic Justice?” Anyway, as I was trying to make sure that all of the various elements of the book release party were coming together from the door prizes, to the food, to the entertainment, etc., a woman came up to me and asked me if could she speak with me. I realized that I hadn’t invited her so I wandered what she had to say so I replied, “Yes.” Apparently, she had gotten a copy of my book and wanted to speak with me about it. She told me that she had just prayed that morning about knowing more about God because of some things she was going through, and she felt that my book was the answer to her prayer…I.WAS.DONE.

I’m ashamed to say I hadn’t thought about that woman in a while, but it came back to me this week as I was reflecting on my first year as a published author…I’m human…I love praise and accolades and there is no doubt that I want to sell lots of books and all of that…but I’m also a Christian…If this book has only helped one person develop a personal relationship with God, then it was worth all of my hard work…Of course, I want to reach more than just one person…but each and every one of us are precious to God…Read the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin if you don’t believe me…

So I have a request today, if my book has helped you to develop a personal relationship with God, e-mail me at jacqueline@afterthealtarcall.com and let me know…

Any thoughts?