Happy Loving Day!!
Today is indeed Loving Day which marks the anniversary of the 1967 United States Supreme Court decision, Loving vs. Virginia, which struck down all anti-miscegenation laws remaining in 16 states citing “There can be no doubt that restricting the freedom to marry solely because of racial classifications violates the central meaning of the equal protection clause.”
So go ahead. Love on someone who is of another culture and/or ethnicity today. And tomorrow.
The other day I put my friend, James, on blast for not following through on his NaNoWriMo commitment BUT he got the humor and point of it all.
In case you didn’t get the chance yet, I think you should check his blog out.
So I recently completed my first novel and I’m excited about the home that it will find as I actively seek out an agent to represent it to prospective publishers. It’s safe at this point to say that the book is a thriller suspense novel that is thematically about forgiveness.
Plot wise, the book is about a duplicitous man who is confronted with all that he hates about himself when a neighbor from his past moves into the neighborhood.
The characters include the main character (a 45-year old man), his ex-wife who is a recovering addict with a blackmail tendencies, his supportive girlfriend who has no clue who her boyfriend really is, a registered sex offender, and a neighborhood full of children. What could possibly go wrong?
I’ll share more details later.
June is celebration of ME month so I’m blogging everyday to share something of importance to me or about me. I hope you’re enjoying the journey.
One of my favorite blogs belongs to Max Reddick of soulbrother. He blogs like nobody’s business and I’m not sure where he finds the time between work and family and that whole life thing. I learn and am entertained every time I visit with him.
In his own words, he is “an African American male with a deep & abiding love & respect for the literature, music, and culture of a people growing out of a historical & on-going struggle for change, but who at this time is not quite sure which direction that change is going and what it even means.”
Spencer is the coolest 10-year old I know and I have the honor of also being his Dad. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… Spencer…
This is the tale of a man named James A man of good report but then also kind of lame...
read moreInsomnia has become my mistress tonight
Am I the only one she has left alive?
Darkness as sheets covering millions who lie
Me, I can no longer fathom the day from the night
Thoughts of my past and my now and to come
It’s the past that has shaped me of what I now sum
I’m heavy and burdened and she won’t let me sleep
I don’t recall asking her over for a nightcap or tea
My sons and my friends and those who barely missed the mark
They haunt me as ghosts as shadows in the dark
My phone is not speaking but I query anyway
It never suffers silence like this during the day
Insomnia wont leave me as if she’s some hesitant cur
The lines twixt imagination and reality are in post stages of blur
Thoughts rage past me and circle seven times
Leaving me crumpled in corners and opposite the sublime
And kings and queens don’t regard how my story will end
I wonder who will read it and will it sell more than ten
The screams of traffic are muted and all colors are grayed
The tether that once held me is now thinning and frayed
Alcohol or pills or distraction numbs her touch
But I resist the lure to trade a mistress for a dime store slut
So eventually she will tire of me and leave me be
And let me sleep and tire of me be and soon I’ll dream and…
One of the coolest things I found out a while ago was that my 15-year old son, Kenn (lovingly known as Kenn 2.0) visits my blog regularly and shares with his friends. How cool is THAT?
I dedicate this post to him in all of his glory and awesomeness. Dad loves you, Kenn.
(Don’t worry, Spencer. You have a post coming up too)
Last week, I completed writing and editing my first novel. The moment I edited that last sentence and put a period on the end of the book, I felt... nothing. No sigh of relief or fanfare or any sort. I was just ... done.
read moreHappy Cinco de Junio (pronouced hoo-nio)!! No, my friends, there isn't really much significance to the fifth of June... unless you're an Elvis fan.
read more
Sadly, most of you have no idea that most of my career I’ve been an illustrator. The last couple of years have found me focusing on my writing while earning my chops as a flash developer. Meanwhile, I’ve been forsaking the very thing that made me. When I determined to write a novel, I decided to put all other projects on hold until it was complete. Well, the novel is complete (more on that later this month) and I am starting my next book – a children’s book.
I have started and stopped this book so many times in the past, it’s not funny. I wrote the story and originally got the interest of a reputable publisher to buy it but then I wanted to draw it myself so I screwed that deal up by sitting on it too long.
Well, I’m back to it. Just as I could write a novel, I can write and finally draw (and complete) a children’s book. I started storyboarding (planning the visual layout) and redesigning the characters yesterday. I’m excited to be back. More soon.
“It’s so hard to say goodbye to yesterday.” It really is.
Familiarity can sometimes lead to complacency if we don’t regard it. I recently had my locs cut. There were practical reasons for doing so but I tend to be a layered guy so there were allegorical reasons as well.
I initially loc’d my hair with the intention of only doing it for 1 year. I wanted to love myself and the me in the mirror – unfettered. It worked. I learned to embrace and love all of the things about me that God made.
4 years later, I can move on. I’m not attached to any material thing and I’m not attached to a look. In 2006, India.Arie said it best when she sang, “I am not my hair, I am not this skin, I am a soul that lives within.” In my humble opinion, that is a true mark of maturity.
You know the phrase – “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.” This is a safety warning that must appear on any convex mirror on a vehicle that is sold in the United States. It’s usually on the passenger side mirror because that mirror must be convex to have a useful field of view to the driver. Therefore, everything seems smaller and further away. If the driver depends on this to determine distance and tries to switch lanes, there’s a great likelihood of a collision. The warning is there to remind the driver of this potential problem.
Life can be like that too. We can take for granted our perception of something and completely make a wreck of a scenario. Too bad there is no label to remind us to be tread more carefully.
The last 3 days, I’ve been reunited with people who I would reserve the term “friend” for. I mean, I genuinely love these people but distance, a disagreement, or stupidity came between us. Ironically, I just finished a novel that is thematically about forgiveness so I can’t help but think about second chances and all.
With second chances, we are often given to more lucid perceptions. Objects (and people) appear as they really are. I want my relationships to be pure and unfettered. I guess this is a start. Again.
Yesterday, I turned 39. Yep. I’m pretty proud of it. 39 years ago at 3:35pm, I was born weighing 8 pounds and 5 ounces. My birth certificate is a reminder of the time we lived in, as my parents actually filled in their race as COLORED. Times have changed.
Thank you for all of the birthday love, Friends. It makes a guy feel special when loved ones, as well as strangers, send messages or thoughts of well wishes. Most of you resisted to remark on my age. Thanks. Maybe before now, a lot of you didn’t know. At 39, I’m not feeling my age or any hint of truth to the “old” jokes. Maybe that starts at 93. Maybe.
