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“Some writers are valued more than others. If we were to take a distinct measure of something let’s say money, we would be able to discern how much words are worth. Big name authors who have proven that the public values their work by buying the book in droves get more money than say new authors who’s value in the market is yet to be precisely calculated, only predicted by several factors (genre, length, writing style, and such.)

What about those whose words were not intended for profit like Martin Luther King Jr. ’s  “Letter from Birmingham Jail”? His words were powerful and moving, but he made no money from them.

The letter was published in various formats and its effects are still felt to this day. His words are valuable because it resonated with many.

That’s one of my favorite words. Resonate.

As writers we write words that will hopefully resonate within our readers. It is when this happens that magic happens and books are sold. There are different kinds of resonance. When someone reads a character they can relate to, that’s a resonance. When a reader fears a character that’s another kind of resonance. It shakes your bones, and creates an internal difference, a physical reaction.

Reading Native Son by Richard Wright made me cry. The protagonist was an impoverished black youth by the name of Bigger Thomas whose deadly mistake was done out of fear. His pain was so palatable I cried as if I knew the man myself. Problem is I did know this man. Growing up in Brooklyn poverty was evident. I saw and still see men like Bigger. Men hustling cheaply made electronics and bootlegs in beauty salons and bus stops and train cars, congregating outside bodegas, cigarettes and hard stories in tow.

These men whose life was neither kind nor forgiving already felt this fear. They (spoiler alert) didn’t stuff a white woman in a furnace, but truly the fear of a society that didn’t understand and aimed to oppress, was etched in their faces as wrinkles and scars from literal battles fought and won in the prison system.

This made up character wasn’t so made up. The pain, the fear and the horror were clearly outlined. You felt it. This is resonance.”

When this resonance is felt books are read and sold. So I wonder in starting this blog and as my first reading is in two days at Brownstone Books at 7pm, how much are my words worth?

Originally posted 2010-03-15 18:33:14. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Sometimes we forget that we are a part of society. We sometimes feel like a grain of sand in a beach, too small to make a difference. We’ll cite the media, government, but you know who else comprises of society? You, me and the neighbors; together we make up society. Instead of feeling like we are too small and can’t make a difference we should owe up to the power we do have.

We aren’t the ones in charge of the new fall programming at MTV or BET, true, but we are not as powerless as we think. We can tell our daughters, nieces, and nephews how beautiful they are and know that our words have just as much effect, if not more, than the girls on the videos.

Originally posted 2012-02-06 23:52:26. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

As A Newbie Don’t Compare Yourself to the Old Regime

If you’ve been publishing according to a writing schedule after a few weeks your blog posts should be of several categories, hopefully all intertwined. Use a website like Wordle to make sure your blog posts are cohesive. They should read like the chapters in a book, or issues of a magazine, not hodgepodge. There are categories that are interrelated and there are categories that really should be separate. For the sake of your sanity and your readers’ keep everything related within a niche.

You Don’t Find Your Tribe By Just Writing

• Guest Post. There are so many articles on guest posting, really just pick one, but this one became my favorite.
• Find other blogs you like, and comment away. Join them on Twitter, and join in the conversation naturally.
• I was going to suggest joining a blog network. Upon researching this I realized most of my favorite blogs don’t belong to any network. If anything you’ll see a lot of comments and guest posting going on, but there’s no formal network.
• And let’s not forget getting offline and meeting the people you are most likely to vibe with. There are conventions, conferences, MeetUp.com. Where there is an interest there are people getting together based on said interest. Bring a business card and a desire to mingle.

Building Your Tribe Takes Time

You’re not going to be considered an established blog out the gate. Quality content and good marketing can shorten the amount of time your blog gains traction, but most, if not all, of the best bloggers have been hacking away at the keyboard for years before they started gaining real traction.

Kitty Bradshaw has been  blogging for 13 years.

Goddess Leonie –six years.

A Belle in Brooklyn-  four years of relationship writing, 7 before that on entertainment alone.

You may or may not know these women, but they are successful at what they do because they have found their tribe.

Do you know the story of the bamboo?

Brands take years to develop and finesse. Purpose needs no such time.

Purpose is now.

Your tribe will come to you as you refine your brand by staying true to your purpose.

Photo from CW Ye of Flickr

Originally posted 2011-05-02 23:31:06. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

What should the pictures be of? Your mama. Oh wait was that only funny to me? Sorry. They should be anything that represents for you writing success. Angela Lansberry, Angela Davis, Maya Angelou. She’s awesome. Put some pics up of her. And other successful writers.

What does my Vision Board consist of? I’ll tell you that in another post. This one’s way longer than I intended.

Finish that Novel Already

Originally posted 2010-04-27 22:13:58. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Ok. Now you know you’re an awesome writer. Congrats! Now that you know you’re a hidden talent just waiting to break through, you need a crew (as small or big as you like) who’s going to support you. Maybe on a writing website (such as this one), in real life (supportive sibling or parent), or your Facebook friends. Whatever. Just get them already!

Ways to Get ‘Em

I would say the best kind of support comes from other writers. They know you’re woes and misery unlike, say you’re accountant friend. (Although I bet they know a thing or two about deadlines, April 15 anyone?) If you know don’t know any, find them, if you already have them, find some more!

The simplest way is to Goggle it. Your area and writer’s group. You can also find writing groups in your area by using Meetup.com. There are online social networking sites for creative types, such as Protagonize,  and Writer’s Cafe strictly for the written word, and Red Bubble, with an emphasis on art and photography.

You can’t turn everything into a damn acronym, but the creative folks behind the National Novel Writing Month didn’t give a damn. And now across the writing blogosphere NaNoWriMo is a rites of passage for many. The gist? Write a novel in the month of November. Writing a full novel in just one month is not impossible, but spectacularly Herculean, and not everybody who undertakes it actually completes the novel. Instead, many writers use NaNoWriMo as a springboard to finish or start their novels. As I’ve witnessed its more about conditioning yourself to write every freaking day. As in taking your writing from a lofty wish to a serious goal. With deadlines. You know how writers need deadlines or I’d doubt we’d get anything done. (This post is a courtesy of a deadline.)

Heck, even renting a shared office space might be something worth looking into. Not to be confused with a virtual office. In a virtual office, the use of actual office space is less common. Cheaper than renting out your own office, shared office spaces started as a way for freelancers and other home based entrepreneurs to escape the loneliness of working from home.

The least expensive will set you back at least $200. They often have several levels of memberships so you can decide how much space and how much other perks you want to enjoy. They give you a place to dedicate to your writing. The best part about it is the commitment. Shelling out at least $200 bucks a month, you’d better have a plan, and get some writing done.

The best part about these places is the camaraderie. Odd and creative minds are abuzz at shared office spaces and collaboration is a natural byproduct. There are several in Brooklyn, including 3rd Ward, with free classes included in unlimited membership, the Brooklyn Creative League and Green Desk. I’ve even heard about Jelly. Not an office share but organized times when people of the entrepreneurial spirit get together.

If you’re not the typical writer, you might want to check out the NY Writers Coalition. Their mission is to give a voice to those who otherwise wouldn’t normally have one such as the incarcerated, disabled, immigrants and homeless. Basically, the people you don’t expect to pick up a pen and paper and bust out “Leaves of Grass.”

Go where other writers congregate, bookstores, and readings. Bring a business card, talk to other writers. This might be a radical thing for the introverts, but you gotta mingle if you don’t want to be single. Single as in all alone in the writing process.  I’ve met a few good people at readings of my favorite authors.

As for me, I am currently a part of the Write in BK writing group. From there I’ve met Raquel Penzo aka The Jaded NYer who hooked me up with my first opportunity to read my works in public.

It’s worked for me. I don’t know what’s going to work for you, but you know what does work? Getting off your butt, stop watching that rerun of Lost and actually trying! So do the damn thang and Finish The Novel Already!

Originally posted 2010-04-24 15:48:20. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

(You) In my novel the main character is heart broken.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because she loved this man very much.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because he effected her so deeply?

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Honestly, because the sex was so amazing. (Wait, would you be be honest enough to tell a kid that? Probably not, bear with me now.)

(Kid/Adult)-Is that it? Is it just sex that determines who your character falls in love with?

(You)Well, it is very important to her.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because she prides herself on being a sexual person with no hang-ups.

(Kid/Adult)-Why?

(You) Because her mother was? I don’t know. That’s just who she is. She’s used to being the giver not the receiver.

Now from that we can discern this character likes the sex a lot. She’s accustomed to being the pleaser, but when its the opposite she doesn’t know how to handle it. Actually I (I mean you) knew this already, but a good question is does the reader know this? I’ll read over what I have so far and clean up the passages that need it so it makes more sense. Or, maybe you won’t need to do so much cleaning up and you’ll feel like your passages are sufficient enough to convey what you mean. Congratulations! You can give yourself a pat on the back. You did good. Now how does that feel? Good.

Now write about another aspect of your character that’s poorly developed ‘cause surely now that you’ve found some weaknesses. You didn’t touch them then ‘cause that is not what you was doing at the time.

But now you are.

Let’s talk about your character’s hate for ignorance for instance. Write a funny dialogue where your character’s boring the hell out of of someone on said topic. Make that person squirm with boredom and make your readers laugh and sympathize with the situation.

Let’s go ahead and FINISH THAT NOVEL ALREADY!

Originally posted 2010-02-23 04:24:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

I have an affinity for Jamaican men. I have an affinity for Haitian men. I have an affinity for West Indian men.

I once dated a man whose Jamaican accent was so thick I couldn’t understand what he was saying if we hadn’t talked in a while. In these men, in their patois I feel closer to my people.

I’m West Indian.  Well…. not completely. My father’s parents hail from the smaller of the sister islands of Antigua and Barbuda which I always confused for Bermuda when I was younger. They came here a long time ago, as in the beginning of the last century.

I grew up in many areas of Brooklyn, always surrounded by West Indians whether it be Bed-Stuy, Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, or Brownsville. Whether they had an accent or not it was more likely than not that if they didn’t their parents did. In my own self induced only child lonely child haze I  didn’t realize this then. I know it now.

I heard the music, the pride in their voices and I felt a ways not always knowing what they said or why they said it.

In that void I’ve become a wannabe. As in I wanna be closer to my heritage. I want to be in touch with my people. I wanna know what it was like for my grandmother as she set foot in New York by way of Canada.

I wanna know what it was like in Barbuda the year before she came to the US.

I wanna know if she grabbed the only other light skinned person on an island full of brown and browner faces.

I wanna know if she danced in the dancehalls. (Did they call them dancehalls then?) I wonder if she liked to dance like me, or if she liked to stay at home, like me.

I wanna know why she didn’t teach her own son not to throw out the fish head, it’s the best part of the fish.

I wanna know more about West Indian cooking than to not throw out the fish head. Once I chop it off I wouldn’t know what to do with it.

I wanna know what it feels like to know that they are proud of me.

I’m not afraid to say I’m a huge wannabe.

Originally posted 2011-07-04 16:05:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Now here’s the part where many  an author is told to set up a rewards system. If they finish their pre-determined goal they reward themselves with whatever their hearts delight. Sweets, an hour of “Grey’s Anatomy”, what have you. My problem is that whatever I love I am going to have it, do it, or partake in it whether or not I’ve reached my goal. Because its called discipline. Self-discipline. And to be honest with myself and you I am not overflowing in that department. In fact, some might say I am understocked, and I wouldn’t be mad at them.

How about setting not just any reward but something you don’t regularly allow yourself? Something slightly out of your comfort zone. “Grey’s Anatomy” is too easy. If you’re like most people you own a TV. And if you live with somebody even more chances that TV will be on making that transition from your kids favorite show to Mommy’s favorite show.

For those of us (s)lacking will power: What do you want, but won’t allow yourself for any reason? For reasons financial, psychological, emotional, or all three? If you achieve your writing goal give yourself this thing. And make sure the reward, justifies the achievement. Don’t go out and buy that mink coat because you completed that one page. Buy yourself that mink coat when you finished that novel.

Let the Reward Fit the Accomplishment

A fashionista would salivate  over this, a lumberjack not so much. Also, don’t go into too much debt or stretch yourself silly with this reward. If that mink coat can be bought with credit and paid off in three months then buy the damned thing and pay for it that way. Three months ain’t so bad for your heart’s desire. On the other hand, if a mink is what you want but they’ll put a lien on your house for it you’re going to have to find another mink coat (literally or metaphorically). I for one am not a huge shopping fan. My mink coat would have to be…..Hmm…Actually I don’t know what my mink coat would be. I’ll let you know in another post.

Alls I am saying is Get Over the Delayed Gratification by instituting the Right Instant Gratification. We can all learn to get two marshmallows, but for now we’re the one one marshmallow kid, and that’s what you work with.

Originally posted 2010-02-02 02:49:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

1. Spending what you wish you had

Overspending, or mismanaging can attribute to funky finances. We have to be aware and at peace with what we have at the moment because there will always be something we can’t afford if you’re not a Rockefeller. At this point in our lives we’re building. If you’re in an image based industry the urge to keep up with the Joneses is hard to resist. You have to be able to say no to items outside your budget or create the income to afford it. Besides, being rich is a feeling not necessarily stemming from money.

2. Not knowing your worth

When we tie our bank balance to our self worth we’ll commit the financial no-no mentioned previously. Most money problems don’t stem from lack of money but from lack of knowing your worth. Financially abundant entrepreneurs and freelancers are those who have learned to translate their skills into money. Know what you are capable of creating and that you can be well compensated for it.

3. Acting as if there is only now, and no future

In addition to being cognizant of present finances it is essential to have a plan for what your finances will be in the future and work towards that. As we’re our own bosses having no goals and living purely in the moment is a sure way to keep funds limited on a prolonged basis. When emergencies and big purchases pop up (and they will) don’t be condemned to eating ramen noodle for the next three weeks out of necessity.

4. Thinking and acting as if bills are bad

I love billing my clients and I love being paid. Ever since being on the other side of a bill I know what it’s like when that check comes in late. Granted Con Edison isn’t feeling the burn quite like an independent freelancer, but the size of the company doesn’t determine the value of the service or product they provide. $300 for glasses? Great! I’ll now be able to see and look stylish. $27 from Con Edison? Whew! Gotta love being able to flip that switch and get light. Love IT! So pay that bill and do it on time. Your credit score will love you.

5. Not Acting on Sage Advice

Now that you know these principles the only thing you need to to do is enact them. Will you live by sage advice instead of just reading it? Today’s a good day to find out.

Originally posted 2012-09-04 14:52:57. Republished by Blog Post Promoter