Archive for the 'Family & Life' Category

January 13, 2006 | Family & Life

Today is the beginning of a long weekend. Federal and state offices will be closed Monday, no mail. So if you were expecting a contract by snail mail, you’ll have until Tuesday, and hope it has enough postage. I’m looking forward to the weekend, and not just because it’s just SciFi Friday. I don’t participate in any King holiday celebrations. I remember the man and what he stood for, correction, stands for. I was a part of the demonstrations in Washington, D.C. to make his birthday a holiday. I heard Rev. Jesse Jackson speak, Stevie Wonder sing. I was in graduate school at Howard University. I really felt part of the movement, having lived in the segregated souths’ capital of the Confederacy. I remember my father keeping me home from school when King was assasinated for fear of riots, that tore through the black community. That area is just now being rebuilt. How long ago was that? My father, raised in a more restrictive south than I was, wouldn’t allow me to watch too much of the television coverage. It was painful, but we watched the funeral together. Can you imagine how his death would be treated in today’s media? The death watch over Sharon has been inundating.

I just can’t seem to get up enough energy for the ‘King Size Sales’, that are happening. I actually heard that sales pitch on the news this morning for a mattress company. Kings’ birthday started out being celebrated in a soul stirring reverent way. Community breakfasts, religious ceremonies, speeches, recitation of his Washington, D.C. speech. It still is, but for every spiritual message, there’s a secular one as well. Come on in and buy. I hesitate to think, yet I realize, most young African Americans, know his name, know they’ve got a day off from school or college, but have very little understanding as to what it took for them to get into that particular college, what sacrifices King and others made for them to walk into any store or restuarant and be able to be seated anywhere without Coloured assigned seating. They expect to be treated as a person, not a person of color. And for me there’s the rub. They are a person of color and as such should respect and remember what it took for them to be treated as a person. My husband made our daughter sit down and watch all the episodes of Eyes On the Prize. We’re introducing it to our son. History taught, history learned, history to be understood. Don’t take for granted – anything. Because everything has a cost.
Have a great weekend. See ya Tuesday.

January 9, 2006 | Family & Life

According to my writing plan, Fridays are not days to write, edit, or do anything with writing. I play singles tennis on Fridays, and Friday evenings are now set aside for the SciFi network. I grew up on Star Trek (and all programs from it), and Star Wars. The Scifi Network a year ago, decided to redo the 1970’s Battlestar Galactica. Now I’ll admit I did watch the program, and it was kinda lame. So, when the powers to be said they were revamping the program, I had no idea what they had in mind. Well, I’m hooked and if any of you tune in on Friday nights, you’ll find yourselves hooked as well. The writing is dynamic, the characters are three dimensional, and the tension is incredible. The story premise is the same, Cylons decide to overthrow and kill all the humans. The Cylons were created by humans. Some Cylons are bright, shiny machines with the one red eye that roves back and forth. But now, Cylons were also created to look like humans. There are many copies of one model. You kill one, it’s memory is downloaded into another model of itself. Some know they are Cylons, some don’t have a clue, until they’re informed of what their mission is. Some don’t want to be Cylons, they prefer to be human. The Cylons have a plan. Of course, it’s to wipe out humans, but they’re up to something else. This season, we’ve got one Cylon,Sharon, who is pregnant by a hottie fly pilot named Helo. He’s in love with her, even though he found out late what she was. Michelle Forbes, a favorite actress of mine, who was on Star Trek Next Generation, has a real gutsy crazy role. She’s Admiral Caine and she will stop at nothing to get her way, including assassinating Commander Adama, played by craggy face Edward James Olmos. Old Battlestar Galactica fans were outraged when Starbuck, a male womanizer in the first series, is now a female fighter pilot with emotional issues, but a woman I’d want backing me in any fight. The original Apollo, was played by Richard Hatch, and I understand he had some issues with this new program. However, he’s been given a role, I dare say allows him to stretch his acting and he’s very good.
I blog about this program, because it has a lot of writing techniques we can all learn. Pacing, character building and growth, dialogue, humor, and my old time favorite, the villain who even though you know is a villain, changes not for the better, but simply evolves and changes because he know he has too. Babylon 5 was like that. It had a five year arc and SciFi allowed it to finish its story telling. Sleeping In The Light, the final B5 episode, still makes me cry and has a turn that I should have caught in the beginning but didn’t. B5 taught me how characters change over a period of time and why. Take a look at Battlestar and let me know what you think. It’s not that easy to catch up on, some subplots you have to know about, but I’ll gladly fill you in, or you can go to Scifi.com and get episode updates.

Also, check out Sloane Taylor’s blog today on writing. It’s an awesome blog and has a lot of valuable information she’s learned to make her writing goals. She got a contract from Triskelion in December and has been editing her butt off to make her deadline! She’s blogging this week on her writing plan and notes should be taken.

January 4, 2006 | Family & Life

I was raised in the south, during a time when black people sat separately from whites, attended segregated schools and the N- word was ugly. If you even thought about talking to a person of another color, much less dating them, you could count of getting beat up. First, from your family, and then whites who really didn’t approve. So, it was somewhat of a shock, when I was home for my mother’s funeral last year, my daughter commented on how many interracial couples she saw. Not just the black man/white woman, but black woman/white man combination. Being that there are several armed forces bases around my hometown, and many couples come from different parts of this country and abroad, it’s normal. I have always tried to explain to my daughter that when she looks for someone to be with, she should look beyond color. Oh, I know, she wants the cute, tall, black guy but he maybe interested in someone else. Someone not the beautiful chocolate color she is. This threw her for a serious loop her freshman year in high school. Most of the black guys she noticed, were noticing the white girls and it pissed her and the other sisters off! There was a minor incident about a note passed around, but all in all, it eventually faded away. I won’t go into her ‘gangsta phase’ which lasted for about two years and almost got her thrown out of the house. Someday, I’ll blog about raising a daughter. I told her that if the brothers insisted on dating white girls, then if a white guy asked you out, and you like him, then go. In high school, the white drummer in my youth group, a definite hottie named Mark, showed serious interest in me. He knew how strict my parents were, but he dared to show up at my house! He ‘courted’ me on our front porch, scaring the shit out of my parents, and he had the nerve to ask me to his senior prom. I was not allowed to go. My parents thought I might be hung. I had entirely different definition of ‘hung’. Our version of ‘dating’ for a time, was during our music practices. We had a lot of practices that summer, our group was very good. Later, I did date white guys, in Washington, D.C. but I never brought one home.

The media is slowly starting to show interracial couples. I didn’t watch Friends, but Ross had a black girlfriend. A highly intelligent black girlfriend. Some commercials ‘imply’ interracial coupling in a large group. I never could get through Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner?, without cringing. Sydney Poitier is one of my favorite actors, and Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy were awesome in anything they made. The movie was considered ground breaking when it came out, and not to take anything away from it, it was. But, the relationship between the good doctor and his white rich fiance, was boring. No kissing that I can remember, no intimate hugs, suspicion from the black maid and many debates as to what this couple would face in their lives together. Spencer Tracy’s final monologue did make me cry. The newer version, Guess Who? with Bernie Mac was more realistic, although it was played for laughs. The Jeffersons tv program, did have a more realistic interracial ‘rich’ couple, black woman/white man.

Publishers are also getting on the interracial kick. New Concepts Publishing has several interracial novels coming out in the spring. Harlequin, just purchased BET’s three black romance lines. It will be interesting to see if H changes the writing of these imprints. Before, no interracial stories were not allowed, the hero and heroine had to be black.

Today’s world is changing. Mixing of the races was once illegal in this country. Couples still have a difficult time, although it is more covert than overt. Black women are faced with trying to find suitable mates, so we’re told. Black men have trouble competing with black women financially, black men are incarcerated, use drugs, black men are on the down-low, black men prefer women of other colors because black women are difficult to deal with, black women are only looking for daddies for their babies, black women are loose. The list can go on. This makes it hard for those young black women and men who are trying to succeed, trying to find someone they can live their lives with.

Black women read, there are lots of dollars involved, and all I’m asking that is that the writing avoids stereotypes, have good plots, well developed characters, and are romance driven. Dyanne Davis wrote, The Color of Trouble, the first interracial romance I read. I was blown away. It is an awesome book and she should be credited for her storyline. It’s sensual, realistic in how parents view interracial relationships, and identifies the stress it places on the couple to figure out how to deal with it and live their lives. Who exactly are they living for? As for my story, my couple truly love each other. For Elizabeth, color does matter, but no matter how many excuses she finds, no matter how many times she allows her father to interfere, and she tries to walk away from Stephen, she can’t because she loves him. For Stephen, he loves her color, he loves her, she is his heart, his soul, his partner and the sooner she realizes it, the sooner they can marry. Alpha male, white or black.

December 19, 2005 | Family & Life

Well, it wasn’t a writing weekend and I was prepared for that. I knew family and tennis would take priority. Our match Saturday was great. I was supposed to play second singles, but the opponent defaulted. That means I got a win! As team captain, I went to the match to watch my teammates play and take notes on the opponent. We won 4 out of 5 matches. Did I tell you my ladies are awesome! Dainty, feminine looking, but on the court we are tigers, merciless to our opponents. Reality calling. I’ve got to get back to work, make sure my book is ready to go out after the holidays to an epublisher that wants to read it. As for family, we went to a restaurant we all love. I made reservations for 4:15pm, told hubby the reservations were at 4pm. If you’re in a relationship, you’ll understand. We arrived at 4:20, having left the house at 3:45 and it takes almost 30 minutes to get there. If he reads this, get used to it lover. From now on, you won’t know what time reservations are unless you make them, or check up on me. Like he did yesterday, but we were on the road by then.

Ok, 2006 goals. I’m working on a paranormal Wicca series and according to the excel spreadsheet I’ve set up, I should have the first draft of the first book by the end of March. In order to make sure I keep to my goal, I’ve signed up to read the first twenty pages to my Chicago North RWA group. My critique partners will have had a go at it before that. Boy am I glad I play tennis! I will be able to work the stress off.

But before I get to 2006, I must finish this year. I’ve set a goal of line editing my multi-cultural love story. Three chapters every day. There are minor changes and I want to get it right. My kids are busy entertaining themselves. The oldest is home from college, hanging out with her friends and starting her career search. The high school sophomore is playing video games, eating, and playing tennis with his team friends. Santa arrives in the form of gift cards and they know who Santa is. So, today is a good day. Today is a power day.