“You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.” ― Octavia E. Butler
I have to confess. A little over a month ago I signed a book contract with a new publishing company that wants to publish books by Black authors. I was over the moon excited and thought that my dream was finally going to come true. After over a month of being promised edits of my…
Ollie was rich. Eccentric. And he hoarded old books. His bookstore, Rereads, was an excuse to justify his habit. He wouldn’t know a rare book if it fell on his foot, which is what almost got him killed. Myrlie was his assistant. She had an impressive knowledge of rare books. It’s why Ollie hired her….
“Know what you want to do, hold the thought firmly, and do every day what should be done, and every sunset will see you that much nearer the goal.” ― Elbert Hubbard I’ve been writing all my life. I have two books I’ve completed that may never see the light of day. I have hundreds of short…
It’s been a month since I’ve written to my faithful followers. That’s the longest I’ve ever gone without posting. Please forgive me. Life has been busy. I have some exciting news! I’ve been persistent in sending my novel out into the publishing world and have gotten lots of “it’s good but not right for me”…
The post above is a bit clunky because I scanned the two pages and then turned them into images to insert into the blog post. I’m still tweaking the process, so you’ll have to bare with me. 🙂
We have 21 days left in this year. Wow. I wrote 12 goals I wanted to accomplish in 2018. I accomplished 5 of the 12 goals. You may say “that’s not a lot, you must not have done much.” You might be right. However. Writing is a subjective field and the goals I set depended…
[For the second year in a row, I have participated in a short story challenge. This is the final story I will be submitting later this week. I wanted to share it with you.] *** “Joseph, stop the donkey, I have to pee again.” Joseph stopped walking and helped Mary down. She stepped into a…
I can’t believe how fast 2018 is coming to a close. At the beginning of each year, I set a reading goal on Goodreads. I don’t stress about it or freak out if I’m not on track. I just set my goal and do what I love to do: read. Each time I finish a…
In 2017 when I decided to make my dream of being a writer come true, I stumbled upon some advice from Ray Bradbury. He said to write lots of short stories, one per week, for a year. He said it’s impossible to write 52 bad short stories in a row. I took that advice to…
It’s Tuesday. The man with the gold cufflinks is coming. He never eats what he orders which means a full meal for her to sneak home. She shoves her order pad in her apron and goes to prepare his usual table. She arranges the napkin and sugar dispensers on either side of the mini jukebox…