Tag: writing

Introduce Yourself: Introducing Guest Author Dana Kearney

Today, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Dana Kearney. Welcome to the PBS Blog. Let’s get started!

What was you childhood dream?

My childhood dream was to be a doctor. Then I realized hospitals and sick people scare me. So I had to find something else to be and I always loved writing.

Cool. In your own words, what is love?

Love is a connection that you cannot describe. It is so powerful when you feel it you know because you have never felt it before. It is a part of the air you breathe. It is unconditional. Love has been around since the beginning of time. Love lasts through the universe and galaxies. It is a selfless feeling that transforms you into your highest self. Love is when frequencies align, your life is complete, and the passion is at its peak. Love is when you see stars in their eyes. Love is balance with the universe.

Okaay Dana. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

A trip around the world would be the most exciting to go on. You could travel many different ways and see so many historic sites.

I love that. Who is your favorite writer?

My favorite writer is Zora Neale Hurston. Her stories transcend, time, space and culture. She takes us through two worlds where some of us live.  She describes a time that has passed, but it is also infinite.  She gives our lives space, meaning, love, and divinity.

What kind of music do you like?

I like rhythm and blues, hip-hop, pop, old school music from the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. Sometimes I pick whatever makes me escape into another place and other times I pick what resonates with current moments in time.

Nice. Dana, define racism.

Racism is the power to negatively impact millions of lives through housing, employment, and natural resources based on race.

Nicely put. What’s your favorite TV Show? Movie?

My favorite movie is Gladiator. I love stories of Ancient Times. I love how the actors bring you into the story. They make you root for one over the other. Behind all the backstabbing and treachery it is a love story and a father trying to return home after he avenges his family.

Diamonds or Light? is available now on Amazon.

What’s the most difficult thing about being a writer? The most exciting thing?

The most difficult part about being a writer is getting your thoughts into a familiar structure. The most exciting part is giving your perspective on life.

What does that mean, getting your thoughts into a familiar structure?

Putting my thoughts into a format that people are comfortable with. As your thoughts come out they may not be organized or naturally flow.

Ahh. Got it. That’s true. Is there anything you don’t you like about yourself?

I don’t like my need for perfection. It stresses me out but I still strive for perfection.

Life is not always pretty. We all experience hardship every now and again. What is your best advice for reducing stress?

My best advice for reducing stress is take care of yourself. Do what makes you happy. Take time to meditate or pray. Take time to do your favorite things. Take care of yourself.

I love it.

Thank you Dana for spending this time with us. We enjoyed you!

Copyright©2019 Dana Kearney. photo used with permission.

Bio.

Dana Kearney was raised in Oakland, CA and graduated from the University of California Davis. Dana was a public school educator for ten years. She loves to read, write, swim, teach, and travel. Dana still lives in California and is currently working on Diamonds or Light? Part II

Please be sure to follow Dana online!

Blog. https://orangeallinherit.com/

Instagram: @diamondsorLight

Introduce Yourself: Introducing Guest Author Corey Collins

Today, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to Corey Collins. Corey, welcome to the PBS blog!

What is your name and where are you from?

My name is Corey Collins and I am from Memphis, Tennessee.  I went to college in Northern Indiana and to law school in South Florida, where I have lived since 1992.

Nice. My in-laws are in Memphis. When did you publish your first book? What was that like?

I published my first book entitled The Thanks You Get in 2017.  I self-published my novel and the experience was exciting, painstaking, exhausting and, ultimately, fulfilling.

Love it. Who is your favorite writer?

My favorite writer (present day) is Zadie Smith.  My favorite writer (all time) is James Baldwin.

I. Love. Baldwin! What is your favorite color?

My favorite color is blue.

What do you hate most about writing advice? What do you love?

I dislike folks who impart advice about writing authoritatively as though what works for one writer should apply to all.  In my experience, writing definitely is not a “one size fits all” endeavor.  I love folks who simply talk about their writing experience in such a way as to give others insight into their process so that aspiring writers might consider what nuggets to incorporate into their own process.

You summed that up perfectly. It is why I don’t like to refer to my information as advice, but tips. Tips based on my own experience I hope others could maybe add to their own experience. Very well stated there Corey. What is your favorite food?

My favorite food is Memphis dry rub barbecue ribs.  My second favorite is cashew nuts.

If you could live in a movie, which would it be? 

If I could live in a movie, I would live in the final scene of the movie The Shawshank Redemption, one of my top 5 favorite films.  The final scene depicts a reunion between two friends who served time in prison together at a city in Southern Mexico called Zihuatanejo.  I was fortunate enough to visit that town in 1990 when I participated in a semester broad program during my junior year in college.   It made a lifetime impression, with its pristine beaches and hospitable residents.  Unlike its more popular neighbor Ixtapa, Zihuatanejo was underdeveloped, less crowded, less noisy.  Peace and serenity descended upon me the minute I stepped into the city and upon its beach.  The thought of spending my final days living off the sea and the land in Zihuatanejo, like the main characters in Shawshank, makes me smile.

Ha! Shawshank Redemption is one of me and my husband’s favorite movies as well. What would be the most amazing adventure to go on?

The most amazing adventure to go on (and one of my bucket list items) would be to trek through the mountains of Machu Picchu in Peru.

The Thanks You Get is available now on Amazon.

Nice. What is the most difficult thing about being a writer? What is the most exciting thing?

Finding consistent, significant blocks of time to write while working a full time job is the most difficult thing about being a writer.  When I am fortunate enough to have significant, uninterrupted blocks of time, entering that zone where ideas and words seem to flow well is thrilling.

I get it. Outside of writing, what are some of your passions?

Outside of writing, I love running.  My personal goal is to run at least two half marathons per year and, for the past five years, I have managed to meet that goal.  Aside from the health benefits, running, for me, is calming and helps to clear my mind.

How many siblings do you have?

I have one sibling, a younger sister.

Are you employed outside of writing?

Outside of writing, I am employed full time as an in house attorney for a construction company.  I review and negotiate construction contracts for the company and manage their litigation.

Okaay. Another attorney in the house ya’ll. What is your favorite TV show / movie?

My favorite TV show is Game of Thrones.  My favorite movie is The Godfather.

Thank you Corey for spending this time with us. We enjoyed you!

Copyright©2019. Corey Collins. photo used with permission.

Bio.

Collins is a practicing attorney in Miami, Florida, with an innate curiosity about the world and the people in it.  Collins attended college at the University of Notre Dame graduating with a dual degree in Government and Spanish in 1991.  Thereafter, he spent a year working for a member of the United States House of Representatives before continuing his education at the University of Miami School of Law.  He graduated in 1995 and has practiced law in South Florida since then.

Beyond practicing law, Collins chairs the board of directors of the James B. Collins Memorial Fund, Inc., a non-profit corporation formed for the dual purpose of providing scholarships to high school seniors needing financial assistance for college and making an annual donation to the American Cancer Society in the hopes of finding a cure for cancer.  He also serves on the board of directors of the St. John Community Development Corporation.

In his spare time, Collins enjoys running, having completed four marathons and twelve half marathons.  He also writes short stories.

About the book:

Corey B. Collins is the author of The Thanks You Get, a novel that explores human behavior and the driving force behind people’s actions.  His protagonist is Hank Goodman, a public relations executive, who is drawn into a mystery involving one of the wealthiest men in South Florida.  Woven throughout Collins’ novel is the theme of families, however defined, and the ties that bind them.  Ultimately, Collins hopes to encourage readers to contemplate whether there really is such a thing as coincidence and whether people, with all their faults, are naturally inclined to do the “right thing” as they define it in their lives.

Are you an author? Looking for more exposure? Learn more about my Introduce Yourself Feature HERE. Stay tuned for our next featured author.

Be Authentic: Message to New Indie Authors

In, building connections as a writer on social media, it’s important that you are authentic in those interactions. What does this mean? It means to be genuine and true, to be real but what does this mean? To be genuine and true is to be yourself in a way that does not force others to accept you, but brings together those who share the same passion as you do. People can tell if you are sharing something just to sell your books or sharing something because you deeply love it and you care about sharing that love with others for their benefit. You genuinely want to educate people, inspire people, empower people, or you want to make them laugh, or help them to heal or evolve. What people get out of getting to know more about you? What value do you offer that helps to make their lives better? This is what building relationships are about. It’s not so much about the book itself, it’s more who you are, who we all are and how your book seeks to make us better. It doesn’t matter if you write fiction or non-fiction, in what way are we better from reading your book? This answer is revealed in your genuine interactions with others. People can tell if the information you are sharing is not authentic. We can tell if you’re sharing something just to sell your book versus sharing something because you want us to be better.

The problem is not that “artistry” doesn’t sell. There is no debate to be had about writing as an art and as a business. It is both. Integrity is everything and I personally believe no one should ever compromise that. Even more so, I believe it is this very integrity that makes us interested in an artist in the first place whether that artist is an author or musician or painter. There’s this debate about wanting to make real money from writing or treating it as an art I do not understand. There is no competition to be had. It is possible to be a serious businessperson and artist at the same time. The problem is too many new Indie authors aren’t authentic about the art enough to build trust among readers to the extent that we care about supporting that author’s work.

This isn’t about trying to find anyone to read our books. You are in search of people who share your passions, goals, and belief system. You aren’t here to force people to share those passions and beliefs but to connect with those who do. This isn’t about trying to make people like you. This is about genuinely connecting with those who do. These are authentic connections. It doesn’t matter how many times you talk about your book if I know nothing about you or share your vision or if I don’t care about what you are bringing to the table, I am not buying the book and I am not the reader you want. You don’t want me. You want the reader interested in the value you are bringing. To get here is to start with offering value where being yourself is not a gimmick.

If you would like to take the step toward helping your potential readers to get to know more about you and your passions and how you can help to make us better through your writing, be sure to take part in my Author Introduce Yourself Feature, specifically designed to help us to get to know you better. Learn how to do so HERE and stay tuned for tomorrow’s featured author.

Also, don’t forget that FOUR of my books are on sale for the month of February. If you are into Black Historical Fiction, Women’s Fiction or poetry, choose your favorite book by clicking HERE and pay just 99cents from now through 2/28. 

Introduce Yourself: Introducing Guest Author Trish Hubschman.

Today, I’d like to welcome Trish Hubschman. Welcome to The PBS Blog! Let’s get started.

What is your name and where are you from?

I’m Trish Hubschman.  I live on Long Island, NY.

What was your childhood dream?

Since sixth grade, 40 plus years ago, I wanted to be a published author.

Awesome. What skill would you like to master?

I’m not very good at navigating websites and blogs. That seems important in this business. I have to learn how to get around them better.

No worries. If you have the means, you can pay someone to do that for you ;-). Trish, what’s your favorite food?

Same as everyone else’s – – pizza and cheeseburgers.

Ha! Pizza is my husband’s fav. Let’s talk about writing a bit. When did you publish your first book? What was that like?

The first Tracy Gayle mystery  novel, The Fire, was published in 2015.

Stiff Competition (Miss America) is available now on Amazon.

What was that like? Must have been exciting!

I  published with America Star Books. They were free.  I didn’t have any involvement in it. This book Stiff Competition means more to me.  I was part of the whole process. 

Trish, married?

I’ve been married 27 years this coming March.

Congratulations! What’s your favorite TV Show? Movie?

I don’t watch TV in this century. In the 70s I did. My favorite show was Little House on the Prairie.  I grew up with Laura Ingalls.

And what are some advantages, in your opinion, of eliminating television? What can we learn?

TV in the past was better, the shows, for one.  The   visual and  sound quality were better in the past too.  I’m hearing and visually impaired.  It’s worse now than it was, but today’s TV turns me off, so I don’t bother trying.

Got it. Trish, why is writing important to you?

It’s a big part of me that makes me feel whole.  As a hearing impaired person, writing is the best way for me to communicate and express myself.

Beautiful. What genre do you write in, why?

For novels, romantic suspense. I love, love.  The mystery part makes it more fun.  In short stories, I write all genres.

Trish, thank you for spending this time with us. We enjoyed you!

Copyright ©2019. Trish Hubschman. photo used with permission.

Bio.

Trish Hubschman has published three books with America Star Books: a short story collection of time travel and romance stories called Through Time and the first two books in the Tracy Gayle/Danny Tide series: The Fire and Unlucky Break. Trish attended college at Long Island University’s Southampton campus, earning a BA degree in English with an emphasis in writing. She lives on Long Island with her husband and two dogs.

About the Book.

America’s favorite rock band, Tidalwave, is playing the Miss America pageant. Band leader Danny Tide is emceeing the event.  All is going according to schedule. The judges have picked the 10 semi–finalists. Suddenly, everything comes to a halt. Miss New Jersey is missing. Nobody knows what happened to her or where she is. Danny calls his longtime PI friend, Tracy Gayle, and asks her to come down to Atlantic City to help figure things out. In need of her best friend for personal support and eager to get to another case, Tracy agrees. There’s an all–out search of the hotels on the boardwalk. They find Miss New Jersey, but it’s not good. Her kidnapping leads to another assault and murder. The big star and the lady PI work together on this one, so that the Miss America pageant can continue as usual.

Be Sure to Follow Trish Online!

https://www.dldbooks.com/hubschman/

Are you a new author? Looking for more exposure? Learn more about my Introduce Yourself Feature HERE.

Warrior

Photo by Beth Tate on Unsplash

You were a warrior from the womb and your entrance was a victory. Since the moment you opened your mouth, they knew you were a prophet/prophetess. In your lungs was a war-cry, your fingers fit to hold swords and angels sang. When your footsteps kissed the ground, you were savior and fallen angels bowed when you breathed because the Gods ain’t got nothing on you. Magnificently and incredibly made from the richness of the soil. There were rumors about your skin and the audacity of it to shine like that. They didn’t know it was because you were born with a crown on your head. They treated you that way because they didn’t know you were a warrior and now that you know this, do not become a peasant. Do not lower yourself from the throne you were promised at conception if you want it. Do not shrink. Rise.

Jer 1:5 “Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb, I did set you apart – I appointed you a prophet to nations.”

Black History Fun Fact Friday – Phillip  B. Downing and the First Mailbox

 

Every day, we use our mailbox, checking it for packages and letters and bills. You look at it every single day but did you know a black man invented it? Thanks to Phillip L. Downing (some sources and memes say Paul but so far I have only been able to verify that his name was Phillip), you don‘t have to travel to the post office every day. You can just walk a few steps from your home. But Downing didn’t call it a mailbox. He called it a Street Letter Box.

Downing was born in Providence, Rhode Island on March 22, 1857. His father, George T. Downing was an abolitionist and business owner. His grandfather, Thomas Downing, was born to emancipated parents in Virginia and also had a successful business in the financial district of Manhattan in 1825. Thomas Downing also helped to found the United Anti-Slavery Societies of New York City.

Coming from a family of business owners, it‘s no surprise that Phillip would become an inventor. During the late nineteenth and the early twentieth century, Downing successfully filed five patents with the United States Patent Office. Among his most significant inventions were a street letterbox (U.S. Patent numbers 462,092 and 462,093) and a mechanical device for operating a street railway switches (U.S. Patent number 430,118), which he invented before the predecessor of today‘s mailbox. On June 17, 1890, the U.S. Patent Office approved Downing’s application for “new and useful Improvements in Street-Railway Switches.” His invention allowed the switches to be opened or closed by using a brass arm next to the brake handle on the platform of the car. Then, on October 27, 1891, his two patents for a street letter box also gained approval.

Downing’s design resembled old school mailboxes (see image). A tall metal box with a secure, hinged door to drop letters. Until this point, people wanting to send mail had to travel to the nearest post office. This is how the enslaved “heard it through the grapevine,“ communication started on slave plantations where information passed from person-to-person, by word of mouth. The Black person who was sent to the post office to get the mail would linger long enough to get a drift of the conversation from the group of white people who congregated there. The mail carrier on his way back to the master‘s house would retell the news he heard so that the other slaves knew what was going on in the world. While many records accredit this to the news that came through the telegraph, it actually began before then. The “grape-vine telegraph” (Washington, p. 9) was unofficially invented first as mouth-to-mouth rumors, gossip, and worldly conversations and news of the war from Southern blacks on the plantation.

Knowing this, it is not surprising that a Black man would make these “conversations” easier by inventing a mailbox. To this day the term, “I heard it through the grapevine,” is still a common saying for someone who has heard gossip. The phrase has even been recorded as a song by Gladys Knight & the Pips in 1967 and by Marvin Gaye in 1968.

Before, those wishing to send mail usually had to travel to the post office but Downing’s invention changed that. Instead, the street letter box would allow for drop off near one’s home and easy pickup by a letter carrier. His idea for the hinged opening prevented rain or snow from entering the box and damaging the mail.

Misty Brown, “Ever Wonder,” Afro-American February 6, 1988; Eyvaine Walker, Keeping a Family Legacy Alive: Unforgotten African Americans (Atlanta, GA: Twins Pub, 2011), 316 – 317. “Philip Downing, Boston, Retires After 31 Years Service in Custom House,” The New York Age, April 9, 1927.

Mahoney, E. (2017, October 31) Philip B. Downing (1857-1934). Retrieved from https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/downing-philip-b-1857-1934/

Washington, B. (1995). UP From Slavery. Dover Publications Inc. Edition. Original Publisher, Doubleday, Page, circa 1901, NY. Chapter 1: A Slave Among Slaves, p.9

Free BOOK IT Masterclass: “Turning your story into Print” | Oliver T. Reid

Writers! Got something good for you. A friend of mine, Oliver T. Reid and his publisher Mr. Kelly Cole, both Bestselling Authors, are hosting a FREE Masterclass for those of you in the Atlanta area. I met Reid last year at the 4th Quarterly Mixer event hosted by Tinzley Bradford. Guys, the man knows his stuff, just wait until you hear him speak. You don’t want to miss this. I hear new and aspiring authors talk about the high cost of publishing all the time. Truth is, there are tons of free opportunities out there. Reach out and take them! Take advantage of the free resources that are available. This is one of them. If you are in the area, come on out.

Details: *Don’t mind the price on the flyer. This event is FREE as of this moment. Act now.*

Link to purchase FREE ticket: >>>

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/book-it-master-class-turning-your-story-into-print-tickets-51720690979?

Date: Sat. 2/9/2019
Time: 11:00am-2:00pm
Thee Werk Place
1900 The Exchange Bldg 300A Ste. 345 Atlanta GA 30339

You’re welcome!