Posted on Wednesday, June 16, 2010

The List…

Hello World,

Happy Hump Day! Yay!

So this weekend, I will be attending the Faith & Fiction Retreat right here in the A. As the name suggests, some of the top authors in Christian fiction will be there. The featured authors are Tiffany L. Warren, who is actually the organizer of the event; Kimberla Lawson Roby, a New York Times best-selling author; Victoria Christopher Murray and Sherri Lewis, an Essence Magazine best-selling author. While these are the featured authors, many other authors will serve as author panelists at the retreat. It will be fun I’m sure! And I don’t think it’s too late to attend! Check the Web site for more info…

So I have been asked to moderate a discussion on Sherri Lewis’ book “The List.” Below is a description of the book from her Web site.

Single and satisfied? Not Michelle, Angela and Lisa. These saved but sexy, successful black women think they’re getting too old to keep waiting on God to send their soulmates. Under the protective eye of their more spiritual sistergirlfriend, Vanessa, and the scrutiny of newly saved manhater, Nicole, the ladies go on a hilarious adventure to “be found” by their husbands.

Armed with their list of essential must-have’s, would-be-nice’s, icing-on-the-cake’s, and total-deal-breakers, they start their search – but soon encounter issues specific to the saved woman on the dating scene. Is online dating okay for Christians? How long do you wait before you tell the hottie you just met that you’re celibate and plan to stay so until married? He’s too fine to pass up – how saved does he really need to be? And of course, how do you keep things holy when he’s oh-so-sexy?

It’s not long before they realize they still have to trust God to know what’s best for them and that He loves them enough to send them everything on The List.

Perhaps it’s synchronicity at work that I was asked to moderate a discussion on this book…At the advice of a spiritual mentor, I came up with my own list back in 2003 (the actual list I wrote back then is included in this list)…With 51 qualities, it is a list to rival Chilli’s!!! I must say my list kept me on track back then when I wanted to date a man just based on how he looked and the chemistry we had although he lacked other redeeming qualities…yes, I have dated some crazy but fine dudes in my day….but since then, I have learned that it is quite unrealistic to expect a man to have everything you want…

And in my fact, I have pared down my list to “essential must-haves!” And I have allowed God to direct my thinking as well…My father told me that only God truly knows what you need, and you have to allow Him to lead you to that right person list or no list…

So what are the qualities that your ideal man must have? Did you make a list? Are you planning to make one? Did you get what you need and what you want? What are your “essential must-haves?”

Please share…

Any thoughts?

Chilli from TLC discussing her own infamous list on the VH1 reality show, “What Chilli Wants.”

Posted on Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Hallelujah Anyhow!

Camp Creek Writers Group

Hello World!!!

It’s my birthday month, and I’m feeling blessed to be here – albeit a year older (in a few days, you know a post is coming 🙂 )…But when I think of the alternative, I have to say “Hallelujah Anyhow!”

Today’s post won’t be long, but it is still important. On Sunday, I went to a book launch party for Deborah Hall-Branch. I met Deborah when we were part of a now defunct writers group that met at a local Barnes & Noble. I felt so proud of her as she read the prologue to her book “Through the Eyes of Abuse.” I plan to do a review of the book later this month after I read the book, but I can already tell it’s a compelling story. Although you would have never guessed it if you met her, Deborah is a survivor of sexual abuse and domestic violence. And she has lived to tell about it and triumph over it! Hallelujah Anyhow!

Deborah reading the prologue to her book.

Deborah’s launch party was also a reunion of sorts of my writers group. And I think seeing each other again after several months and years, in some cases, provided the fuel to reignite our writer dreams! Some of us have continued to plod on that harrowing journey to publication. The leader and founder of our group was Denise aka Chicki Brown. She don’t stop! She is working with an agent and has written several books that she hopes will get published. In just a few years, she has become an expert in book publishing. With her persistence, I am sure she will be published.

Mike Fuller, one of the few guys from the writers group, has compiled his captivating short stories in his book “Chronicles of a Nappi Head.” His testerone-driven stories, at least the ones that I have read, are reminiscent of that movie, “Cooley High.” Brent McKibben, another member, admitted at the party that he hasn’t been writing much lately but decided that he would begin again. Some of his work is featured here. And his book “Liquid Fiction Volume One: Have You Experienced?” is available on Amazon! Another writer, affectionately known as Jessy, is embarking on grad school while she continues to hone her sci-fi/fantasy writing. As for me, I guess I will stop all the whining and will begun searching for agent again. (Yikes!)

It’s September, the beginning of a new season. It’s time to begin again. Hallelujah Anyhow! I heard this statement in a sermon recently. (My statement is paraphrased.) Every open door is not God’s will and every closed door isn’t closed forever…sometimes you just have to wait….

Just us writers...

Blessings!

Any thought?

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2009

What’s on Your Summer Reading List?

Up until I was in the sixth grade or so, I thought I wanted to be a librarian. Although I knew about the typical negative stereotypes of librarians (old, white, spinster, donning cat-eye shaped glasses, hair tightly fashioned in a bun, etc.), I was convinced that I wanted to become one.

At the beginning of every summer during my childhood, my father brought the three of us to the public library in downtown College Park to get us enrolled in the summer library reading contest. Each of us received a sheet in which we had to write down the names of the books that we read throughout the summer. If you read a certain amount of books, you would receive prizes at the end of the summer. Although my brothers had to be cajoled into participating in these contests, I relished writing each and every title on my list. So when people asked me what I wanted to become as an adult, I thought the natural response was a librarian since reading was my absolute favorite thing to do. (Eating was a close second, ha, ha.) I wanted to be a writer too, but I didn’t know any writers so becoming a librarian seemed a more attainable choice.

Also, there was this one librarian at College Park Library who was so nice plus she didn’t look like the librarians I read about. She was tall, slender and black with long hair. She didn’t wear glasses, and she was reasonably fashionable. I figured if she could do it then I could do it. In fact, one summer just after I finished the fifth or sixth grade I volunteered to be her assistant at College Park Library. For a few hours each week, I helped her shelve books according to the Dewey Decimal System, read stories to little kids, haul books to various locations, organize the card catalogue system, etc. After that summer, I realized that the job of a librarian was a bit monotonous for me plus my new found discovery of boys didn’t help.

Since those days, I haven’t made an effort to have a “summer reading list” although reading is still my favorite pastime. A new study in the journal Psychological Science demonstrates that people’s brains actually process the actions in a book much like their brains process real life events. In other words, the same brain activity that occurs when one is in love is much like the brain activity that occurs when one is reading about being in love…it’s no wonder that romance novels are so popular with some people. (They are getting off on that stuff!) Anyway, this study just proves what I have experienced since I was a very young child. When I want to go somewhere, I just read a book.

In homage to the infamous “summer reading list,” I have decided to list some of my favorite books from my childhood. I wonder if some of these books are still popular.

1. Ludell and Willie by Brenda Scott Wilkinson. I think I must have read this book during my pre-teens. It is a tender romance story about two black teenagers in Waycross, Georgia in the 1950s. In this book, you can experience segregation and learn about big, thick juicy pickles that make you want to suck the juice out of them before chomping them. This book also made me want to marry a country boy. In fact, I often thought of this book when I dated this guy who is from Vidalia.

2. Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? by Judy Blume. I think Judy Blume books helped raise me. This is a must read for any young girl who has yet to experience her first period. Goodness, those days were so confusing, but books like this help out a lot…

3. The Ramona books by Beverly Cleary. I don’t remember what these books were about exactly. I just remember the heroine of these books was this little girl with a brown bob who was always getting in trouble. It seemed like there was a ton of these books…

4. The Friends by Rosa Guy. This book is about a friendship between a black girl from the West Indies and a black girl from New York. It reminded me of my friendship with a girl who had just moved to Georgia from Jamaica. In those days, my quest to find a best friend was as troublesome as my quest to find a mate is now. Maybe it will be resolved as it was then. All of a sudden, she just showed up, and she wasn’t like the best friend I had pictured in my mind. She was a couple of grades ahead of me and had an accent, but I felt I had known her forever…

5. Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly. This book is about a summer romance between a girl that is about to go to college and a high school star athlete who had once seemed unattainable. Apparently, Daly was in college when she wrote the story! If I ever visit Wisconsin, I must visit Fond du Lac where this story takes place.

6. The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank. This book is a heartbreaking story of a young Jewish girl and her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. The family was forced to hide out in an attic for about two years. This precocious young woman recorded her insights during this unbelievably horrific crime against humanity. Anne ultimately died in a concentration camp.

7. Summer of My German Soldier by Bette Greene. Reading the above mentioned book gave me perspective on this book. This is a story about a young girl’s crush on a German soldier, who escaped a POW camp. It is an unlikely story as the main character is Jewish. This girl ends up hiding the German soldier who ultimately slips away before their relationship is revealed.