Tag: blog

A Time to Read

reading

In Shreveport, it started off with a collection of rain drops. They took the opportunity to brave the cooling breath of the skies for a chance to taste the ground. Some of them managed to lick rooftops, light poles, and the hoods of cars; relaxing liquid bodies into the cracks of the earth. But others, others were not so lucky. For the clouds let loose its storage place of wind and paralyzed their bodies midair. They had not the privilege of melting before their frozen futures hit the ground, many of them solidifying into ice cycles and poor trees. You have been suckered into shedding your skin again in the beloved south. Not moments after you begin to bud, the once soft petal of flower must choose not to photosynthesize, but to hibernate more inside that place where flowers go when they do not yet exist.

But what of all of this?

While I do not enjoy the cold (at all) it is a great time to read. And after the glaring sun the crisp bite to the air is refreshing. It is the time to find a good book. To lock yourselves into your dwellings. To warm a pot of tea, hot chocolate or coffee. To curl your legs into yourself and bury both your body and mind into the warm and compassionate world of words.

Dear Atlanta,

I’m coming for you!

Any Bloggers in the ATL? I’d love to meet you!

The Release Date for Book #3 of The Stella Trilogy has been pushed back to accommodate my travel schedule. The book signing and presentation will take place in Atlanta GA on Friday, February 26, 2016. I will already be in the city for the Black History Month parade so this really works for me.

Real-Book-06-4

Please click this link for more information and to see how you can donate toward the event. I just finished putting it together. I am raising money to help purchase books in bulk since I am preparing for a large crowd. Everything else is covered but this final financial hurdle. It would mean a lot to me if you can support this work either financially or by coming out to see the presentation in person. I’m not a fan of traditional book signings so you can expect this to be extremely interactive, yessss.

Learn to Listen

Even a deaf man can learn to listen. Though we hear with our ears understanding comes from the heart and from the mind. So many problems in the world and in our own individual lives could be solved just by listening. It is not so much that the most intelligent of the world are any smarter than the least educated. The difference is just by way of how one listens over the other. If I tell a child to wash the dishes I do not need that child to respond that there are only few dishes in the sink. This is an example of poor listening skills. I did not ask the child if the sink was half empty or if it was half full, I asked the child to wash the dishes that were there. It seems simple enough, but this cycle is repeated throughout our lives in so many ways and we are often like this child. Learn to listen, not with the intent to reply but with the intent to understand. You see I cannot give you a proper response on a good meal until after I have digested it. I have to take the food in first, taste it, swallow it and then digest it. Now, in these stages I have choices. I can talk with my mouth full so that you do not understand what I speak. I can taste the food and declare it right even though I have not swallowed it. And I can assume it has a healthy effect on my body though my body has not yet digested it. Too often we do this with information in our lives. We reply to situations or to people even though we have not fully digested the information. The funny thing is that most people you talk to are never really listening to what you’re saying because they already have a response waiting on the tongue. They are just waiting for you to stop talking. They do not listen. They do not hear. You have to understand, as you navigate your life, that you cannot have a healthy relationship with people who do not listen. It won’t work. Some of you are in relationships with people and its not working. The reason its not working is because your in relationships with people who do not listen. For many of us the result is that we learn to do likewise. We do not stop to hear what is heard. We do not stop to listen.

Writing 101: Assignment #20: Final: The Wrap-Up

unnamed

Primarily, I want to thank all of the bloggers who have been supportive of this blog throughout the duration of this course. Those who are regular PBS supporters and all of the wonderful new blogging buddies I have made. I do not have much for you this morning. Briefly, the prompts exposed me to some very creative ways to develop content. The method I enjoyed most was the story in a single picture exercise. I’m a visual learner, meaning I need to see it to understand it. That said my “Aha” moment if you will was discovering that I can develop a story just by looking at a single photo. This is definitely something I will be incorporating more into this blog and into my writing in general. Overall, the best thing about this course was the social interaction. I have gotten to know so many bloggers and have discovered so many blogs! In these four weeks I have followed quite a lot of you and I look forward to being enlightened by what you have to offer.

Below is a list of this week’s assignments. Usually I do this on Sunday but since today is the final wrap-up I will list them here. Also note that I have also created a page for my Writing 101 Assignments so that you can always go back and review them and so that new visitors can find them.

Assignment #16: Mine Your Own Material
Assignment #17: To Map a Purpose
Assignment #18: I SPEAK
Assignment #19: Round-Up
Assignment #20: Wrap Up

Throwback Thursday Jam – Everything, Mary J. Blige

I never thought I’d see the day 90s songs become throwbacks! Groove on into your afternoon (or evening) with Mary J. You ain’t never really been in love until you can relate to one of her songs! Yaaass: