Nelson Mandela

I had a blog all ready to post about a loss in our history. We definitely loss a great spirit and soul that we will be thanking for years and years to come but was then distracted by how many people did not Nelson Mandela. Just all around not fully knowing the greatness of this man. I then had to think back and remember that I don't think we were taught about Nelson Mandela until maybe sophomore year of high school. After that it was U.S. history and then American Government. It hurt my heart that they were so many kids that not only didn't know who he was or what he did but not even want to find out who he was. Very saddening to me. It's definitely a need to educate outside of the history books and classes. These kids need to know more than scores on a test. Makes you wonder how our educational system is even working.

Simple Pleasures

I am all about simple pleasures. I am an easy to please person -I don't need all of the glitzy shiny things. I've just never been like that. Simple things make me happy.


Case in point, I love the Amber Romance body lotion from Victoria's Secret. I've loved it for years now but rarely go into Vicki's spot because she's too high sometimes. Last time I had this lotion was when we went on the cruise last year. When we were flying back from Miami, I forgot that it was in my carry on instead of the luggage that went ahead and dang the man at the security post who took it. They didn't take coconut head monkey that we stored all of our medicine. No he took my lotion. I know it was his job and I know I should have remembered to pack it in the other bag but dang! It's ok...I'm not bitter. I just bought some. Just the smell of it brings me to a happy place.


Another simple pleasure helps with my sanity. Tea. Hot tea, sweet tea, McAlister's tea, Mickey D's sweet tea (when they make it right), herbal tea, just any kind of tea. It eases my mind, calms my nerves, and it's better for me than drinking soda or coffee. I have always loved tea.








Writing is definitely more than a hobby for me. It keeps my mind from overflowing with ideas and thoughts and fears and dreams. Writing allows me to express on my paper what my lips won't say. Writing keeps me alive and free. I just really love to write whether it's poetry or a scene in a novel or even a entry in my diary. Yes I still do have a personal diary. It's an APP on my phone so it's easier for me to write whenever I need to.

The Best Man Holiday is the best movie in 2013

I have not seen a lot of movies in the theaters at all. I typically wait until it's in the RedBox. I finally saw 42 a couple of weeks ago and loved it. That movie was done so well and I tip my hat Chadwick Boseman and Alan Tudyk for all the movie but for one particular scene that I cringe just thinking about. If you've seen 42, you'll know that scene I'm talking about. I however will have to say that my new favorite movie is The Best Man Holiday. It's by far the best movie I've seen in a long time. First of all, I think I was like a lot of other people who thought why is there a sequel after almost 13 years. I was a senior in high school when the first one came out. I loved it. As I was hearing more about it, I said that I would check it out because the whole cast is so great at their craft but we don't see them on the screen as much as I think we should.That's another blog.

 

So flash forward to last weekend --the movie premiered and I'm seeing nothing but great reviews. In fact the majority of the reviews were "I laughed and cried!" For anyone who knows me knows that I don't like to cry. I hate crying and I'm definitely not going to cry in public. I mean I don't even like crying in front of my husband. So smart me -I thought why not go to the movies with my father or brother. They certainly aren't going to cry which will then deter me from crying. So Dad and I go and the first half of the movie was hilarious, had some corny moments like most romantic comedies do but the second half -*insert sigh. At first, I was doing good. I could hear other people around sniffling. I could hear tissue boxes opening in preparation for what was coming. But I was good. I kept it together. That lasted for about a good ten minutes. After that, the tears would not stop crying. I cried during the movie. I cried leaving the movie while talking to my Dad about me crying AND I cried on the way home. Like.a.baby. I will not reveal anything because you really need to see this movie. 

I will say that this movie touched so many things in my everyday life that I probably needed that cry. They hit black men and women with issues of infertility to writer's block to pride to faith and holding onto it. Overall -it was a beautiful movie and when I see it again, I will definitely bring my own tissues!

A Writer's Struggle

It's been about 2 1/2 years since I published my last novel and 3 1/2 years since I've written it. I mainly couldn't focus on writing while trying to plan the wedding and being married. I'm getting back into it now and working on my fourth novel. It took me a minute to get back into writing. I was climbing the hill of writer's block. I will admit though that the writer's block was self inflicted. Four couple of months, I was trying to write on my own like usual. The past three books just came into and the words would just fly off the page. The characters wouldn't leave me alone. I literally was hearing the voices. A true writer indeed. When story lines weren't panning out or when I wasn't hearing anything, I started to doubt myself quite a bit. Am I truly a writer or just crazy enough to write the others? How can I be writer and not write? None of what I was writing made sense. I was trying too hard. While I'm going through this, I'm on my FB timeline and see all of these new novels come out and although I was happy for my fellow writers, I couldn't help and think that I needed to write along the same lines as they. Dive into the same topics and characters -i.e. hood novels. Street life, thug life, etc. is very popular among readers, particularly black readers and I thought to myself maybe I should write about that. I even remember when promoting Karma Has a Name and a reader told me that although she thinks my book will be good, she will only read hood novels. When I asked her why, she said that's what she related to and it made sense. (She still bought a book though -not sure if she read it.) I then tried to write what I thought would be like these books and that's when the writer's block really came in. Anyone who knows me know that I know nothing about street life or 'hood' life. The closest thing I could say was me dating a guy that was all about that life. He grew up in it, lived it day and night, and basically associated any and everything about him to that. I learned a lot during that relationship. Outside of that, as hard as I could to write about that life, it came out fake and rough because not only was I trying too hard but it came off as that. I had to quickly stop that. I was trying to be something I'm not and as a writer, that's when I'm the most real about myself. I had to ask myself why would I write that -for money or more readers? Readers aren't stupid. They'll know if something is genuine or not. So I let that go. 

Once I did that, I started writing. This novel I'm writing now will touch home more than any of my other novels. The first three dealt with topics or dramas of people I knew or I would display traits in my characters that I wished I had (i.e. being a bad girl). It was fun meeting and living with those characters. This novel will hit personal issues that I'm going through. It will be fictional but it'll expand on feelings that I've been having and battles that I'm fighting but with a plot twist of course :) I love writing because not only is it therapy for me but when it's done, I'll be able to say I'm a writer again instead I used to be a writing.So it's coming. I'm going through a writer's struggle but it's coming along. :)

Getting in the swing of things

I am finally getting back to my writing. I haven't really been able to write since I was planning my wedding. I've had a few characters play around in my head for the last six months but they are now talking to me. :)