Summer Breezes....

Summer breezes are already blowing into Texas and I've gone underground working to keep up with coursework, closing out another session of the community college course I'm teaching, and I've begun a new writing project. I've managed to come through the semester with a 4.0! It was challenging because since I am not an English major I had to make-up 4 upper level English courses to fulfill my conditional entrance to the TWU English Literature Graduate Program. With that behind me, I'm moving into study of American Realism and Naturalism and Faulkner this summer. I'm especially excited about the Faulkner course since it includes travel to Oxford, Mississippi in July to attend a seminar held there. The Professor teaching the course is awesome and I'm looking forward to a memorable experience. While I enjoy the interaction of social media, I envy past writers not having to field the social media terrain along with navigating the other struggles involved when putting pen to paper.

So, with a tight schedule to meet, upcoming personal issues that will need my attention along with my 2 summer graduate courses, I'll likely be blogging little over the next several weeks, though I will try to share high points or notable moments. In the meantime, if you you've not tried my offerings, please do and do me a favor--leave a review, those little lines are like gold to authors these days!

Happy Summer--

Ordinary People...

Warning: Nobody's perfect in my world of fiction. So if you're looking for perfection, this is not your stop. To date there have been no fairy tales weddings--no weddings at all, come to think of it. Friends find out those Favorite characters may not get the man, nor always respond to situations in a likeable way and real social issues are often explored. Daughters and mothers collide and fathers tumble from their pedestals. People who aren't married have sex, there's weed smoking, drinking and there may even be curse word or two. The villain isn't always evil, in fact the evil-doers aren't usually villains at all.

In "Plenty Good Room" Tamara has a safe haven in her solitary world. She's resentful of the young teen who's presence forces her from her comfort zone. In "The Other Sister," while away Sanita slid into a world of sexual irresponsibility and now back in her hometown finds the consequences may be greater than she imagined while her sister, perfectionist Carla battles her tendency to take comfort in food. And in "Think I'll Call it Morning" selfish Elisha is forced into a job that challenges her in ways she hadn't expected. Along the way there are unforgiving and philandering fathers, busybody church folks and sister and mother/daughter conflicts. There is also love, humor, music, food, and family.

Many are Christian, a few or not, but nobody's perfect in my world. Perfect is fake, boring and unreal. Besides nobody's perfect and who wants to be? What you will find, is just ordinary people, that's all.

Six Degrees of Separation

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” ~Martin Luther King, Jr.

Six degrees of separation submits a theory that every person on the planet is no more than five intermediaries away from connecting. In "Think I'll Call it Morning," banker Elisha has little interest in knowing anyone outside of her circle, but she finds herself in an entirely new environment once she takes the position of Fundraiser at the Community Center.

After a session at the after-school program, Elisha talks with Center Director Malachi...

“You really think we can change people because we’re Christians?” Elisha asked.

"No, I don’t think we can change people, we can only help them change their own lives,” Malachi replied.

“I think we have to face that some people are just products of their environment.”

“And, what environment would that be?”

“You know, people from poorer neighborhoods or kids with irresponsible parents.
No matter what we do, some people just aren’t going far in life.”

“Hmmm.” Malachi stood and slid his chair under the table. “That’s an interesting viewpoint.”

Elisha hesitated, realizing she had said too much. “Maybe it sounds harsh, but how much time can we spend worrying about these people? I have my own problems to deal with--Mario, Mama, and Daddy."

But Elisha soon finds her life is not as separate from "those people" as she thinks. Read AfroLatina writer Xenia Ruiz's review of the story, "Six Degrees of Separation" and purchase your copy here....

Three strikes...

Elisha's heart began to pound--lay off mid-level employees? The meaning of the words began to dawn on her. Stunned, she replied, "Liz, it sounds like you're saying in a nice way that I'm fired."

Elizabeth's eyes deepened. "Oh Lisee! Not fired. Laid-off. We're laying you off. We're giving you a generous severance package and of course we'll give you the highest recommendations to help you obtain another position."

Excerpt from "Think I'll Call it Morning"

Elisha "Faith" Lawrence is devastated when she is laid off, her well-laid plans suddenly veering unexpectedly off-track. She's gotten a degree in business, landed a great job, and was on the way to purchasing a nice house and a gold Lexus. But everything screeches to halt when she finds herself without a job. With her bank account dwindling, she grudgingly takes best friend Chantell's offer to work in a Community Center even though her plans were never to work in the "hood." Then her mother Sandra suffers a stroke and Elisha must move home to care for her and to top it all off she butts heads in early meetings with lock-wearing minister and center Director Malachi! But, something strange begins to happen when losing what she thought most important takes an unexpected turn--

Read more in "Think I'll Call it Morning..."

Quiet as it's kept...

"There was no use trying to stop the inevitable now. God let things happen in His own timing and like a spool, the truth was unwinding and the threads of past secrets were about to spin free." ~Latrice Lawrence, "Think I'll Call it Morning."

Ex-banker Elisha Faith Lawrence and DeAndre Davis lead very different lives. Elisha has to downsize after losing a job and then must move in with her mother after a health crisis. And, when Mom Brenda leaves town, nineteen year old DeAndre struggles to make ends meet and take care of his sister. But secrets kept by their families connect them in ways they may never know. Both find their lives shaken when truths they never imagined are revealed....

Read more in "Think I'll Call it Morning..."

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my second book, "Think I'll Call it Morning!" Thanks to Gil Scott-Heron for this lovely song, that seems a perfect fit for this bittersweet story.

I originally wrote this story in 2005, shelved it, and then decided to edit it for sale. Thank you to early readers who sent me back to the editing table. Special thanks to K.S. who gave me laundry list of items to "fix."

"Think I'll Call it Morning" is the story of DeAndre Davis and Elisha Lawrence and unfolds with a little suspense, lots of humor, a touch of romance and the sadness and struggle that is life.

Available at Amazon and B & N now in e-book for only $3.99 for the month of March.

“Perfectionism is the voice of the oppressor..." ~Anne Lamott

Coming March 5 - Think I'll Call it Morning

Elisha Faith Lawrence has lived a charmed life, everything proceeding according to plan. Then she loses her job, and her mother’s health crisis forces her to move back home. When Elisha’s friend Chantell offers her a position at the downtown Community Center, Elisha takes the job, even reluctantly agreeing to become a mentor. After a bad beginning, a friendship warms between Elisha and Center director Malachi. But, just as Elisha regains her footing, she stumbles upon a family secret that delivers her the worst loss of all.

On the other side of town, poverty makes life a struggle for nineteen-year-old DeAndre Davis, especially when his mother Brenda leaves town to nurse her wounds after being beaten by a boyfriend leaving DeAndre to care for his sister Shawntrice. Neighbor Mavis lends a hand and though DeAndre appreciates her efforts, she can’t convince him there’s more to life than the bleakness he sees. His best friend Jermaine is deep into a drug game that DeAndre’s determined not to play. Girlfriend LaNea offers support, but wants more than DeAndre’s able to give. When Brenda reveals a devastating secret and unwelcome news from LaNea follows, DeAndre makes a hasty decision that could change his life.

Desperation pushes DeAndre to a breaking point and his life intersects with Elisha’s in a fateful moment when they discover what separates us is not as strong as the ties that bind.

Coming February 29th in e-book only.

Read an excerpt here...

Forgiveness

"Love is an act of endless forgiveness, a tender look which becomes a habit.~ Peter Ustinov

In my novel, The Other Sister, James Jefferson is ecstatic when daughter Sanita arrives home after a mysterious disappearance. Athletic Sanita left home on a basketball scholarship to attend college. She is the son that James never had and he's been deeply concerned about her. But, when Sanita's doings in California finally become known, James is faced with a challenge he never expected. Forgiveness. When James discovers Sanita has strayed from the values she was taught he is devastated and despite wife Lena's goading can't find it in heart to forgive.

Never mind that his boyhood friend, the good Bishop Calvin Catchings may be a cad and a womanizer--James's is praying for him. But his daughter? Forgiving her is proving to be difficult. Perhaps even impossible....

Read The Other Sister...

Course Offered

This spring I will again teach my Discover your Inner Voice at the Corinth Campus of North Central Texas College. Budding writers will be introduced to the mechanics of structuring a novel or a creative non-fiction writing. There is a weekly lesson along with a selection of prompts. Guided journal exercises help students self-assess and formulate personal writing goals. Students have weekly writing tasks to assist them in starting a personal book project and are asked to post their efforts in a class blog. At the completion of the course, students may continue to use the blog as an online writing discussion group and can carry those meetings to the local library or another offline location f they choose.

The course will be offered again in March at the Flower Mound campus. If you live in North Texas and are interested in signing up for the course, more information (page 51) here. Scholarships are available.