More Awesome Book News!

Happy Friday, Creatives!

I’m in my season of allowing, and although,I have lots more to accomplish within the space of this awesome writing realm, I don’t feel intimidated or pressured to get stuff done. And yet, when my work comes together, I feel empowered and so grateful to have this wonderful gift .

First up, guys, I’ve sort of put memoir on hold. After forty thousand words, it started to wreck havoc on my emotions. I have to rethink the “deep introspection” required of the memoir writing process.

My poetry chapbook entry to Casey Shay Chapbook Contest had a good run, landing my Lil book,  A Southern Woman’s Confessional,Poems from the soul, on their Quarter-finalist and Semi-finalist lists. Unfortunately, my lil darlings failed to make the top three finalists list. Oh, C’est la vie 🙂

 Don’t cry for me Argentina! I’m just looking in my rear-view at that slight pang of rejection, as I’m preparing to re-edit the book for another chapbook competition. If anyone knows of traditional publishers in the market for a chapbook of poems from a southern woman’s perspective, have their people call my people:)

In a prior post, I introduced y’all to the African-American Woman Book Publishing Scholarship, where the CEO of Professional Woman Publishing ,  LLC,  offered $2500 book publishing scholarships to 4 women of color.

Well, I’m excited to announce that I am one of their scholarship recipients. Yea Buddy!!

African-American Women $2,500 book scholarship

 

I’m preparing for the 5 conference calls in mid October with the CEO, Linda Ellis Eastman, where we’ll discuss my vision for my new book, which will receive all the benefits that the scholarship covers and then some. Did I mention how thrilled I am?!

My new book project, tentatively titled, Unleash Your Pearls, A Woman’s Guide To Empowering Her Authentic Truths, supersedes any anticipated vision for my work that I’ve ever imagined in 4 decades of scratches and scribbles, hits and misses, confirmations and surprises. My passion for writing is a gift that continues to give and I love that my purpose platform remains solid.

Y’all already know (she says in her authentic voice )I’m gonna be like a sponge in our private coaching sessions, soaking up awesome pearls of book writing/publishing knowledge, to aid my purpose mission that offers every woman, one of the very best resource guides available for living a life of purpose and authenticity.  I’m going to be busy like a happily buzzing bee, preparing to introduce Unleash Your Pearls to the world.

Of course, I will keep everyone informed of the book’s progress.

Today’s author quote clearly had me in mind, because, initially I was hesitant to inquire about the  scholarship information.  But, that’s a  whole ‘nother post, people:)

“Stepping outside your comfort zone to reach out can have tremendous payoffs. Whether you are building your network of media contacts, writing an opinion piece for a newspaper or blog, arranging a meeting with your local Congressman, or engaged in a media blitz around your latest paper, you’ll generate ripples that can lead to surprising and gratifying results.” — Nancy Baron, author of Escape from the Ivory Tower

Remembering & Sharing

Good Morning Wordsmiths!

Giving honor to God in remembrance of those who lost their lives on this date September 11th, 2001. Our condolences remain with the families and loved ones left in the wake of this tragedy.

I’m filled with a pleura of emotions as I’m grateful to share an update that is good news. My poetry chapbook, A Southern Woman’s Confessional-Poems from the soul, placed in the semifinals of the Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize!

Countdown from 200 quarter-finalists to 30 semifinalists 🙂 The top three finalists and the winner will be announced at the end of the month.

Here’s your inspiring writing quote for today:

“Language allows us to reach out to people, to touch them with our innermost fears, hopes, disappointments, victories. To reach out to people we’ll never meet. It’s the greatest legacy you could ever leave your children or your loved ones: The history of how you felt.” — Simon Van B

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A Congratulatory Post On Poetry And Books

Happy Friday, everyone! I hope your week was productive and that you have a safe and memorable weekend of rest, reconnection and gratitude. I, like you, was saddened to hear of Robin Williams death. I was remembering all of his great performances and his upbeat, perfectly timed improvise & jokes that made us laugh until we hurt. What baby boomer doesn’t remember Mork & Mindy? His passing is unfortunate and very sad. There are never enough words.

This is a congratulatory post of sorts that I’ve been meaning to share with readers about what’s been brewing on my creative stove, give a well-deserved shout-out to an author’s milestone accomplishment and share information about clara54’s upcoming guest author appearances.

I admit it. I didn’t spend time working on my memoir during my hiatus. I couldn’t bring myself to create in that cathartic space and so I went back to writing poems; a genre I’d found a bit of success in, in the beginning of my freelance writing career.

I wrote a few new poems and gathered some of my languishing poetry to enter them in The Mary Ballard Poetry Chapbook Prize Competition.http://caseyshaypress.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-mary-ballard-poetry-chapbook-prize.html where they placed in the competition’s quarter finalists. The finalists vote comes at the end of August. Fingers crossed:)

I received edits to a poem selected for inclusion in the Michelle Obama Anthology (the authors changed the title) which is set for publication in the historical academia’s “The Black Scholar” sometime in September.

My poem “When Morning Comes” was selected to appear on the website Best New Poems for 7 days where readers and poetry lovers get to vote on the poem they like best and that poet wins the contest. My poem is scheduled to appear on the site August 29th. I need your votes, people! so go here to vote for When Morning Comes www.BestNewPoems.com.

I’m collaborated with,and will be the featured author on a new upcoming Christian Romance Guide, penned by my colleague and friend, Evelyn Cogdell. At our last correspondence, Evelyn was held up and anticipating returning to the project in September. More on that as it unfolds.

Kathy Pooler, who blogs at Memoir Writer’s Journey http://www.krpooler.com/blog is presently on a blog tour for her just released memoir and will be stopping in at clara54 the first week of September to talk about her new book (which has received great reviews) and her journey away from emotional abuse.

The same week, Kathy will guest post at my Authentic Woman site to encourage, inspire and empower other women to live a life of wholeness, away from abuse.

I was stuck writing my memoir and turned to penning poems on my time away. I also connected with Joy Devok, a prolific cross genre author who blogs at “My Life a Legacy” and who just happens to have recently published her e-book of poetry, called Poetry: Touch the World with Your Art and Soul.

Look for Joy’s appearance very soon as she joins the writers blog to talk about her enormous body of work and the joy of writing poetry. I’m excited to have these authors visit and share with us their writing process and talk about their books.Congratulations authors!

Whew, this post was supposed to be short and sweet. What happened!? If you have great news to share with my readers, please feel free to inquire about joining the fray:)