I'm an author whose 2nd novel Trippin' will be re-released in May 2008. It was a Blackrefer.com Fiction Novel of the year. My debut novel, Bulletproof Soul, was released in May 2005 and re-released in November 2006. I've also written 4 screenplays. I'm an uncomplicated Gemini who believes that meaningful conversations and pursuits are strength training for the mind and smiles and laughter are aerobics for the soul.
TRIPPIN: Seven crazy people in a travel club are determined to get buck wild and enjoy life to the fullest. But during a trip to Vegas, all hell breaks loose when envy, lust, lies, betrayal, greed and emotions explode and they discover there is a serial killer among them. These folks are trippin' -- so sit back and enjoy the literary ride!
BULLETPROOF SOUL: A reporter struggles (often comically and unsuccessfully) with love, life, work, family, friendship & volunteerism while at the same time, her grandmother learns a thing or two about life & love. Cheer them on as together they learn to embrace their bulletproof souls.
SOULS OF MY SISTERS: This is a collection of real-life inspirational stories written by black women for black women. This self-help tome/workbook covers issues like self-image, money management, racism, sexism, abuse, spirituality, family, self-expression, love, aging, illness and death. Included is my essay about a young friend who died of cancer, entitled "Young, Gifted & Dying."
Souls of My Sisters will make an excellent Christmas present for all the women you know!!!
This bestselling self-help book, edited by Dawn Marie Daniels and Candace Sandy is a collection of real-life stories written by black women for black women. Originally published by Kensington’s African American-oriented Dafina imprint in 2000 and re-released earlier this year, Souls of My Sisters: Black Women Break Their Silence, Tell Their Stories and Heal Their Spirits, is now in its 15th printing and has sold more than 200,000 copies.
Get a copy of Souls of My Sisters for all the women on your Christmas list and don't forget to treat yourself to a copy!
For all readers, writers and lovers of literature...
Don't forget the RAWSISTAZ RAW AFFAIR Readers & Writers Conference is taking place this week ONLINE.
There is a well-rounded group of participants, great panels & workshops, as well as book discussions, spotlights and more. This is the first time The RAW AFFAIR has been held online, but hopefully it'll be just as much fun as the other six RAWSISTAZ offline conferences have been. Join the fun here: RAW AFFAIR
RAWSISTAZ Literary Group presents their 7th Annual Readers & Writers Conference The RAW Affair 2008 ONLINE December 8-13, 2008 http://www.rawsistaz-affair.com
Perfect for book clubs and other groups. Included on the CafePress.com site is Trippin’ and Bulletproof Soul merchandise. There’s t-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs, computer mousepads, clocks, stickers, aprons, book bags, calendars, journals, stuff for kids, pets and more!
Here's a peek at what you’ll find:
Order purchases online at www.cafepress.com/michellebuckley or over the phone. To order online, please have your e-mail address, password, and a major credit or debit card available.
For phone orders, call toll free: 1-877-809-1659. Also, have your item number and a major credit or debit card available. Phone orders can be placed Mon.-Fri, 8:00a.m. - 5:00p.m. PST.
Whether you order online or by phone, you are assured the following: Information to track your purchase 30-day 100% money back guarantee 100% secure ordering Fast shipment and delivery on most items in stock.
Trippin' and Bulletproof Soul merchandise is sold only onwww.CafePress.com. Their address is: CafePress.com Customer Service Department 950 Tower Lane, Ste. 600 Foster City, CA 94404
I believe we should hold the spirit of Thanksgiving in our hearts every day, year-round because so many of us have so much to be thankful for -- including me. I'm thankful for the many blessings the Lord has bestowed on me including the love of a wonderful family. I am thankful for two amazing parents who love me unconditionally and have been supportive and encouraging sources of inspiration all my life. I am thankful for the love, wisdom, intellect, strength, knowledge, integrity and positivity that flows through me and others that bless my life.
I'm thankful for my right mind, good friends, good health and good hands that allow me to do good work. And most importantly I am thankful and grateful to God for blessing me with all of these things, and letting His love, grace and mercy flow in, through and around me.
Below, are two of my favorite Thanksgiving poems that remind me of all I have to be thankful for! I HOPE YOU ENJOY!
May each and every one of you have a joyously blessed and wonderful extended Thanksgiving weekend.
How to Observe Thanksgiving. ~~Author Unknown.~~
Count your blessings instead of your crosses. Count your gains instead of your losses. Count your joys instead of your woes. Count your friends instead of your foes. Count your smiles instead of your tears. Count your courage instead of your fears. Count your full years instead of your lean. Count your kind deeds instead of your mean. Count your health instead of your wealth Count on God instead of yourself.
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The Art of Thanksgiving ~~Wilfred A. Peterson~~
The art of thanksgiving is thanksliving . . . It is gratitude in action. It is thanking God for the gift of life by living it triumphantly. It is thanking God for your talents and abilities by accepting them as obligations to be invested for the common good. It is thanking God for all that men and women have done for you by doing things for others. It is thanking God for opportunities by accepting them as a challenge to achievement. It is thanking God for happiness by striving to make others happy. It is thanking God for beauty by helping to make the world more beautiful. It is thanking God for inspiration by trying to be an inspiration to others. It is thanking God for health and strength by the care and reverence you show your body. It is thanking God for the creative ideas that enrich life by adding your own creative contributions to human progress. It is thanking God for each new day by living it to the fullest. It is thanking God by giving hands, arms, legs, and voice to your thankful spirit. It is adding to your prayers of thanksgiving . . . acts of thanksliving.
Here he is . . . President-Elect Barack Hussein Obama, the new soon-to-be 44th President of the United States, the leader of the world's largest super power. Look closely. This is the face of a man that represents an amazing time in history. While the real work of getting our great nation back on the right path has yet to be done and his final legacy has yet to be written, may God be with President-Elect Obama , his family and all of America on this amazing journey, because Lord knows the road ahead will not be easy and the challenges we all face are daunting...
President-Elect Obama's Acceptance Speech.
No one is more excited than me about the history I am watching unfold and the monumental impact this man is going to have on generations to come. Just imagine all the young boys and girls last night who watched President-Elect Obama make his acceptance speech and thought to themselves (realistically!) that, "0ne day that can be me. There's nothing I can't be, have or do!"
I'm not even that old, but I must admit I never thought I'd see a black man nominated as President of the United States in my lifetime. I know personally that President-Elect Obama makes me want to Be Better. Want Better. Do Better. Multiply that by millions of people and just imagine the impact he can have; we can have . . . imagine this world and WHAT CAN BE . . .
Sam Cooke, got it right . . . A change is gonna come . . . no, retract that . . . A CHANGE IS HERE! Change has come to Washington. Change has come to America. Change has come to the world -- and its none too soon.
It's not too late to commit to writing a novel in 30 days! November is National Novel Writing Month, a popular writing initiative that takes the nation by storm each year, which was started a decade ago right here in the KC metro.
I bet you didn't know a NY Times Best-seller started as a Nanowrimo novel. (How's that for inspiration?)
Want to test your mettle to see if you can write a novel in one month? Read the article below, sign up at nanowrimo.org , plan on attending some local write-in meetings and then this Saturday, start writing!
Good luck to all who participate!
******************
Novel Concept: Writers sign up for Ambitious Writing Project
With a recent study showing more than 80 percent of Americans would like to write a book, it’s obviously a common goal for many.
So if you’re one of those who wants to write your own novel, get your laptop fired up — National Novel Writing Month is almost here.
The annual event, which goes by the shorthand NaNoWriMo, is pretty straight-forward: Write a 50,000-word novel during the month of November, then upload it to www.nanowrimo.org. A computer will count your words, and if you hit the 50,000-word mark, you’ll get a certificate.
“There’s no magic here,” says Chris Baty, a Prairie Village, Kan. native who founded the event. “All we’re doing is giving people a little bit of inspiration and a little structure.”
Baty, who now lives in San Francisco, started the writing event in 1999 with a group of friends. They picked 50,000 words as an arbitrary number that seemed attainable but would still qualify as a short novel.
It’s grown into a nonprofit organization and more than 101,000 people participated in 80 countries last year.
“We all have dozens of books in us,” Baty says. “Sometimes people get caught up by the fact that they don’t have THE idea, the book no one’s ever written before, and it has to appear before they start writing. That idea I don’t think ever comes. You just have to start writing.”
Some NaNoWriMo novelists have done just that and have had luck in the past. Baty says 27 manuscripts have been sold to publishers, and the event can now tout a New York Times best-seller: “Water for Elephants,” by Sara Gruen.
'Daunting?'
The key, participants say, is not to worry about quality — just get words on paper. Writers that have been successful say there are different strategies to getting through.
Some days, people write a chapter that’s 3,000 words, which is a lot of output for a single day. The next day, they might write a single scene that’s much shorter. Another strategy is writing 1,667 words (roughly 5 pages) a day no matter what, which puts writers on pace to finish the novel by the end of the month.
And there are resources available. The organization’s Web site, has tips, forums, aids and also lists local write-ins that will happen in various cities across the globe. At the write-in events, NaNoWriMo participants can actually write, get inspiration from one another and bounce ideas off of each other.
‘Life of its own’
"If you want to participate and don’t have an idea, don’t fear," says Ted Boone who has participated in Nanowrimo before.
"I often don’t choose my topic until a day or two before Nov. 1. And even then, I don’t have the whole thing mapped out. I usually find I’ve got a good starting point, a couple of points in the middle I’d like to strike, and I know where I want to finish. Somewhere in the process, I’ll get to the point where I feel like I'm not telling the story. Literally the story will take on a life of its own.”
Article originally published by Terry Rombeck at: http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/oct/19/novel_concept/
Esquire Magazine just named Halle Berry the 'Sexiest Woman Alive' in their November issue. Said Halle, "being 42 and having just had a baby, I think I'll take it!"
According to Halle, "Sexy is not about wearing sexy clothes or shaking your booty until you damn near get hip dysplasia. It's about knowing that sexiness is a state of mind -- a comfortable state of being. It's about loving yourself in your most unlovable moments."
Loooove that quote! What's your idea of sexy?
Courtesy of Esquire Magazine: Certified Banger Halle keeping it smart, sexy, strong and respectable 6mths post-pregnancy!
In case you missed the laff-out-loud SNL satirical sketch of Tina Fey doing a better Sarah Palin than Sarah Palin, the link is below. (Watch Poehler's Hillary blow a gasket midway through). Hee...
Enjoy the impersonations in the video of the two history-making politicos...Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin...it's had a record 2.37 million hits on the NBC website since the Saturday night show!
"Reading promotes learning, which promotes growth, which promotes prosperity."
The mission of the National Book Club Conference is to create the world's largest book-club meeting once a year, to promote the value of reading and formulating book clubs among adults and in the nation's public school systems for the purposes of advancing literacy, broadening minds and knowledge through reading and dialogue.
The first weekend in Atlanta is just around the corner...and for those of you that love to read that means one thing ....
The National Book Club Conference is COMING!!!!! It will be held August 1-3 in the ATL. For those that have never been, I would highly recommend that you try to go. I attended a few years ago and had a blast. (See repost below).
The NBCC is like a convergence of writing all stars. Where else could you go and meet more than 600 people from across the country who truly have a passion for reading, not to mention visit one-on-one with best-selling authors like Terry McMillan, Iyanla Vanzant, Carl Weber, Donna Hill, Walter Mosley, C. California Cooper, Eric Jerome Dickey, Velvet, Mary B. Morrison, Vickie Stringer and many more? Plus, there will be many relevant discussion including sessions on Black Pain, What Makes Black Book Clubs Go and How To Maximize Your Book Club Experience (a panel discussion featuring one of the baddest book club founders EVA -- Tanisha Webb of KC Girlfriends Book Club)!!!!
And perhaps the highlight of the event is the World’s Largest Book Club Meeting which this year will feature a discussion of Walter Mosley’s newest novel, “The Tempest Tales.”
For those of you that do attend, enjoy and please come back to share your experience!
~^^~~^^~REPOST~^^~~^^~
This past weekend I attended the National Book Club Conference in ATL with the KC Girlfriends Book Club and over 600 other booklovers. All I can say is it was one of the most powerful experiences I've been a part of since becoming a published author. I could go on and on about the NBCC, but since they say a picture is worth a 1,000 words -- I'll let my pictures speak for themselves. If you really love books and if you get the chance to attend the conference, this was my first time and I wholeheartedly suggest you go -- it's an experience you won't forget!
Me and California author, Lexi Davis the creator of 'Pretty Evil'.
Me and readers from across the country.
International best-selling author, Terri McMillan.
Me and ATL reader and bookclub founder, Jerika Head. NYT best-selling authors, Eric Jerome Dickey and Kimberla Lawson Roby.
OKAY...I LIED, I HAVE TO SAY A LITTLE SUMTHIN-SUMTHIN MORE ABOUT THE CONFERENCE. Authors to me are like rock stars and I was thrilled to meet some of my favorite literary "rock stars" including Terry McMillan, Pearl Cleage, Walter Mosley, Eric Jerome Dickey, Donna Hill, Kimberla Lawson Roby, Mary Monroe, E. Lynn Harris, Diane McKinney-Whetstone, Lexi Davis, Electa Rome Parks and Karen E. Quinones Miller.
Perhaps the most powerful moment for me occured while I was talking to a reader from Atlanta. She'd been up all night with a friend whose son had been thrown in jail. His offense? DWB -- driving while black. Anyway, as she was telling me all that had happened the night before, I marveled at the fact that she was up bright and early and at the conference.
Her response to me is one that's stayed with me ever since the conference and it will likely stay with me forever. She said, "You don't understand, I had to be here! You don't understand how much I appreciate what you and other writers do. Reading saved my life when my mom died when I was just 14 years old. Reading saved my life when my dad died years later. And reading saved my life when I went through my divorce. Reading is my escape and I don't know what I'd do without it."
WOW! Talk about the power of writing and words! If ever a writer doubted how important what they did was -- after talking to that reader -- there would be no doubt. To know that you can touch another human being in that way is a powerful feeling. Over the years, reading has allowed me to escape to other worlds and it's nice to be a part of the chain that now allows me through my writing, to help others escape. As a writer, that's a responsibility I don't take lightly.
Other 'take my breath away' moments included:
~^^~Watching Pearl Cleage recite her 'We Speak Your Name' poem created for Oprah's Legends Ball last year.
~^^~Listening as Tavis Smiley read from his memoirs and moved some of the crowd to tears while the legendary Cornell West looked on. The memoir is entitled: What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America. It's truly inspirational.
~^^~Meeting the mom of author Martha Southgate (The Fall of Rome/Third Girl From the Left). Martha's momma, Joan, at the age of 73 walked 519 miles along the route of the Underground Railroad in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada. Of course, Joan wrote an inspiring book about her experience which I bought, called 'In Their Path'. See: http://www.intheirpath.org
~^^~Meeting Carol Mackey, editor-in-chief of Black Expressions Book Club. (Carol brought my first book to life, Bulletproof Soul, in hardcover form -- a dream I've had since childhood).
~^^~Having authors like Lexi Davis and Electa Rome (both sweethearts) as well as radio personality Wendy Williams say they'd heard of my books Trippin' and Bulletproof Soul.
~^^~Talking to NYT author Eric Jerome Dickey who recognized little ole me from MySpace.com (I was shocked he really was on there and that his site wasn't handled by his "people").
~^^~Seeing Terry McMillan honor another up and coming bright author, Kalisha Buckhanon, author of 'Upstate' with the National Book Club Conference’s Terry McMillan Young Author Award.
~^^~Watching Terry McMillan put her money were her mouth is by offering to purchase health care and open checking accounts and secure credit cards for two young men brought to the conference by author, pr guru and Stay Strong Foundation co-founder, Terri Williams. The foundation is dedicated to inspiring and supporting youth. The young men Terry offered to help are former gang members-turned college students and they were a part of the NBCC's 'Young Black Men-Lives Worth Saving' panel discussion.
Thanks to all the readers out there who make it possible for me to do what I do and who encourage me and motivate me often without even knowing it, every step of the way along my journey! Blessings to you all...
How to Observe Thanksgiving. ~~Author Unknown.~~
