VERY LATE NIGHTS

fyi: those looking for sneak peek of my mystery novel, it's the post below!

I want to first say thank you to all who have e-mailed me about the sneak peek or about my blog. It means a lot to me.


I have about two more days of LATE NIGHTS. I start teaching again on Wednesday, and I will have to get up at 5:15 so I can catch the 6:30 bus and be at school to teach at 7:30 in the morning. I'm like, LORD, why did I do this to myself. My body is already in SUMMER mode. This is really the only time I can write, and I make use of all 24 hours in a day. The last week, I haven' t been going to bed until like 5 in the morning. I didn't go to bed until 7:30 this morning, working on an outline for a new book.

I'm slowly trying to put some things in perspective in my life. I do A LOT of things. If I want to excel at something, I am going to have to scale back some things. I want I.T.S. to do well because I think ultimately, the company will be that "cushion" I need to not worry so much about $$$. I want to write and get paid for it. It's hard to know that what you think you were put on the Earth to do you can't do unless you want to live on the street and bum quarters from passersby. I love editing and helping others achieve their success; I just need to finesse how I do that AND get paid for it.

N.E.WAY--> The other day, I fixed the manuscript, the synopsis, the query, and worked on a proposal for another novel of mine: Running from Miss Right. It's been hard to sell because the main character is a black female who is questioning her sexuality. That, and it has a "Friends" like quality to it, and for some reason, it's hard for people to believe that blacks, whites, Asians, Puerto Ricans, etc., actually do get along sometimes and can be friends. RFMR truly is, in my opinion, my best work to date. (note: I do plan to put an excerpt from RFMR up in the next few days :: stay tuned!!) I have other books that are either fully written or almost complete; however, RFMR and DDIW are the two I'm working on getting published now.

I've had a new idea for a book in my head for about two weeks, and last night, I stayed up working on the outline, getting characters' names, figuring out looks of people--I like to find actors who kinda look like my characters. Part of it is wishful thinking (book turned major motion picture! LOL), and part of it is it's just easy to help me get the characters fleshed out in my mind. Over the next 30 days, you will hear a lot about this book because it's a project I think would sell (and probably before DDIW and RFMR) and it's a challenge to myself to get a book written and fast and to edit/revise/push like hell.

I'm giving myself two pre-writing days (today and tomorrow) to finish a brief outline, get my hook written, and plot out some writing time, and then starting Monday, I will devote time each day to writing the book. I'll chronicle some of my successes and failures here, along with my other, normal rants, LOL

Since school let out, I've actually had time to read. Here are some I've read and are GREAT! I would definitely suggest you pick them up:

>>Jane Porter's The Frog Prince

>>Lauren Baratz-Logsted's The Thin Pink Line and Crossing the Line

>>Ursula Ingo Kindred & Mirranda Guerin-Williams' Mister Gumbo: Down and Dirty with Black Men on Life, Sex, and Relationships

>>(great children's book) :: Leonard 'CRUZE' Webb's My Name is Corinthia

Til Next Time...