Dr. Francene Breakfield Archives - After the Altar Call

Hello World,

Delta Authors on Tour…

Yesterday was a whirlwind of a day…I had gotten up around 5:30 a.m. to pray and write and then I mapped out the rest of day…I had planned to go the Delta Authors on Tour event for a couple of hours and then get on with my Saturday washing clothes, grocery shopping, etc. – basically the mundane stuff…

In my mind, I was grumbling about the various things I needed to get done – the fun stuff and not-so-fun stuff…I LOVE to write, but writing this first novel has been a challenging feat for me for several reasons…For the sake of brevity, I will only name two…Reason #1…Up until the last year or so, I haven’t read a novel in some years…I’m a non-fiction afficionado…In fact, even though I’ve been a part of a book club that has read novels for roughly 16 years, I have read very few of them (I’m grateful they allow me to come back to meetings 🙂 ) Reason #2…Since I’m trained as a journalist, I can whip up a competent article or two or three if threatened in a few hours…But writing chapters and for hundreds of pages is a marathon I’ve never run before…

The not-so-fun stuff was obviously my household chores…Sometimes my week is so hectic, I have to relegate mundane chores to the weekend…and the last thing I want to do on a weekend is wash clothes, plan meals, clean, etc. When I was single, I could ignore all of the not-so-fun stuff and let things pile up including dishes, clothes, dust bunnies, etc. But now that someone is living with me, I no longer have that luxury…(although my husband would probably argue that I still allow myself that luxury…)

Sorors Dr. Fran Breakfield & L.D. Wells...

Sorors Dr. Francene Breakfield & L.D. Wells…

So yesterday, I had all of that planned as I charged into Greenbriar Mall where the Delta Authors on Tour event was held. My plan was to stay there for two hours tops…I was there to support two of my collegiate chapter sorors L.D. Wells and Dr. Francene Breakfield and then meet newly minted Soror Suzan Johnson Cook, who is not only a former pastor and current author, she also served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom…But when I was told Soror Johnson Cook wouldn’t be there until 3 p.m., I realized that my day would unfold as planned…

Me & Soror, Dr., Ambassador & More Suzan Johnson Cook…

How many of you know that “in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps?” (Proverbs 16:9)

What I understand now is that I had a divine appointment to be there and not just for two hours but for the WHOLE day…I got there early about 11 ish in the morning and didn’t make it home until roughly the same time last night…

Me & Soror Victoria Christopher Murray…

While I was there I met Soror Suzan Johnson Cook whose book “A New Dating Attitude” made me know that I know that I know that I truly know my husband was and is God’s best for me…But that wasn’t the only reason I was there…I reconnected with authors I’ve met before such as Victoria Christopher Murray and met authors I’ve never met before such as Angela Ray, Dr.

From left to right, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, L.D. Wells, Brenda Jackson, Dr. Fran Breakfield

Majorie L. Kimbrough, Dr. Martha Ward Plowden, Ruth P. Watson, Stephanie Perry Moore and Brenda Jackson…In fact, I hobnobbed with the Delta Authors on Tour so much I was invited to go to dinner with them that evening at The Pecan restaurant in downtown College Park…New York Times Best-Selling Author Brenda Jackson, who I’m ashamed I’ve never heard of before yesterday, has written over 100 books!!! (Y’all know she has been blessed by God, all gifts do come from Him…)

Stephanie Perry Moore and one of her adorable young fans…

The conversation at dinner encouraged me to continue in my divine appointment of being a wife (maybe mother someday…I know I’m 41 and the countdown has started…Mind yo business 🙂 ) and an author with dreams so big only God can accomplish them through me…

As I and some of the author Delta Authors on Tour made our way back to our cars, little did we know that we had another divine appointment…We met a dynamic downtown College Park business owner that regaled us with story after story after story of her “mustard seed” faith and how she encourages people to not only dream but to WAKE UP!

Don’t we look hungry? LOL…Me & Angela Ray…

And I’m only giving you the “public personal” version of the divine appointments that I experienced yesterday because I’m still pondering everything and this is the Internet…lol…

So this morning, I’m awake and ready to continue to writing this novel that I hope to have “spit shined” and ready for perusal next month…Y’all keep me in prayer…

Won’t He Do It! Guess What? He Already Did!

Any thoughts?

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?

After the Altar Call

Tag Archives: Dr. Francene Breakfield

Making Your Divine Appointment…

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