Happy Earth Day (with guests)

Reblogged from lola karns:

I'm a nature loving girl, as is my daughter and my mother.  I think we inherited our love from my Grandfather, who was a steward of the earth long before Earth Day made us more aware of the special place we live.

To  honor Earth Day I invited a couple of friends to share some ideas on how to take care of our planet. 

Read more… 796 more words

Author Synithia Williams Chats About Worth the Wait, Writing and Her Celeb Crush

Reblogged from A 5-Minute Piece of My Mind:

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Today I have the pleasure of talking with romance author Synithia Williams. I met Synithia on Twitter awhile ago and I've been following her budding writing career ever since. She has two romance books under her belt, You Can't Plan Love and her most recent release Worth the Wait.

Me: Hi, Synithia! Thanks so much for joining us today. Please tell us a little about yourself and when you first knew that you wanted to become a writer?

Read more… 1,049 more words

I’ve been tagged #writecampaign

One of my fellow campaigners Regina has tagged me. I’m quickly answering these questions (but I did have to put some thought into number 5 and I’m still not quite sure). Anywho, this weekend I’ll return the favor and tag other campaigners. 

1- What is your favourite writing place?

My kitchen table. TV off, glass of wine handy.

2-What is the best thing about writing?

Going someplace new, getting in the mind of someone different, and living out fantasies.

3-What is your favourite quote?

Thisnis hard, my wall at work is covered with quotes. “Next to God we are indebted to women, first for life itself, and then for making it worth living.” Mary McLeod Bethune

4-Where do you get inspiration from?

Everything. A conversation, nature,a daydream, it all inspires me in my writing and in my life.

5-If you could be a historical figure, who would you be and why?

Hmmm..never thought about this. Cleopatra. To experience that much control over powerful men. I’d skip the killing myself part though.

6-Name you  top three favourite authors.

Laura Lee Gurkhie, Lisa Kleypas, Beverly Jenkins

7-If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go?

London, it’s not fancy but I’m obsessed with so many manynthings British.

8-Besides reading and writing, name other two pastimes hobbies.

Excercising and making my yard sustainable.

9- Name your top three websites.

Google, Twitter, Facebook

10-What advice would you give to an anspiring author?

Never give up. Writing is rewarding and frustrating. Sometimes you want to throw up you hands and say to hell with it. But you can’t. Nothing worth having comes easily so keep trying.

11- What special power would you choose to have?

The ability to make children sit quietly with one word. And my husband too

Writers’ Campaign

In an effort to keep my mind off the various query letters I have floating in publishing land, I’ve decided to participate in Rachael Harrie’s 4th Writers Platform Building Campaign. I’ve wanted to participate in her campaign since I first came across it last year, but at the time I really wanted to focus on finishing my manuscript. Well, that’s all done and while I am working on my second novel, I do have enough time on my hands to participate.

What is the Campaign? It’s a way to meet other bloggers and writers who are working to build their platform. Unless you’re a writer living under a rock,  you know that it’s important to build a platform. The campaign is a fun way to link up with other people who are in the same boat as I am. This will be a mini-campaign with only two challenges (writers prompts), but it’s enough to get my creative juices flowing. Plus, it’ll give me something to think about besides the response time on my queries.

Pop on over and check out the campaign. If you feel up to the challenge join in, and if you do good luck!

Yes, I am a “Green Queen”

If you’ve read my bio on Twitter, you know that I spend my days improving air and water quality. It’s a job that I enjoy because as a local government worker, I feel that my efforts have an impact close to home. The Environmental Protection Agency sends down laws from on-high, but many people in my county don’t trust the federal government. On the other hand, they appreciate when us local government workers come out and tell them what’s happening on the ground. How polluted is their water and how dirty is the air.

I was really surprised, and flattered, when The State Newspaper listed me as a “Green Queen” in February 2010. After the article I received a call from the principal of an African-American private school. She asked me to speak to her students and I readily accepted. In my entire K-12 career, I don’t remember a single black woman coming to talk to my class. I’m not saying it to be critical, it’s just a fact. When a little girl remembers me from a fair, school presentation or workshop I have a little bit of joy in my heart. I hope that I serve as some type of role model or inspiration for them to pursue their dreams.

Plus, I love talking to students about what I do. In fact, I’m speaking at three different schools this week.

No, my day job isn’t sexy. Most days I want to shake one of my male co-workers, but for the most part I’m happy with my job and my life. It inspired me as I wrote my first novel, and continues to help me discover ways that I can lower my impact on this Earth.

Does your day job inspire you in anyway? If not, it may be time to take stock of your goals. Happiness and inspiration make life worth living.

State Newspaper Green Queen Article: http://www.thestate.com/2010/02/28/1178814/meet-four-more-green-queens.html

Interview with writer/publisher Stefanie Newell

Considering that my day job requires lots of talking and public speaking, you’d think that discussing my writing would be easy. It wasn’t. Sure I wanted people to know what I’d spent years working on, but it was so close to me, so personal, that I didn’t know if I’d be able to share my “baby.” After I completed my manuscript and began revisions, I went to the internet for advice and became a blog lurker. You know, the person who reads what others blogs and the advice they have to offer without commenting. That is, until I came across  Stefanie Newell’s Write One Blog. Her posts and videos offering advice about promoting yourself as a writer,  helped me become comfortable discussing my manuscript. I enjoyed her posts so much that I stopped lurking and began commenting. I was very excited when she asked me to guest blog for her last year, and appreciative that she’s agreed to an interview for my blog. I want you all to check her out because I feel that her advice on writing and promotion are helpful to us aspiring writers. Enjoy! Read more of this post

Assigned Relationship Roles

This weekend a friend and I were at mutual friend’s house who was preparing dinner at the time. Noticing that this friend was always cooking we asked if her husband ever cooked. Her immediate answer was “no, and I prefer it that way.” My knee jerk reaction was to wonder why doesn’t he cook. After she explained that her husband once cooked eggs in Crisco I completely understood her reasons for cooking herself, but it still got me to thinking about assigned duties in relationships. When I refer to a duty I mean the household chore that one person in the relationship mainly handles. Sometimes duties are assigned because it makes more sense (i.e. no one wants eggs fried in Crisco) other times the duties are assigned due to preconceived gender roles. Luckily in the case of my friend her assigned duty as family cook was because it made more sense.

In my relationship, some of our assignments are based on gender. My husband cuts the grass and used to talk callously about other men whose wives were outside cutting the grass. He’s also said that he’s the man and some things he’s supposed to do. I have absolutely no problem with him taking on the “manly” duties related to yard work. In turn I take on some of the “womanly” duties inside. I primarily cook dinner and clean up every night. But, my husband and I mostly work together on household chores.  He gives our boys a bath, I lotion them up. He irons the clothes for the next day while I pack our lunches. I will admit that sometimes I get tired of cooking and he gets tired of ironing and we’ll switch up every once and awhile. Although we may have our set roles we’re always willing to help each other out when needed and seldom criticize if one doesn’t follow their normal routine. The hardest part for me is releasing some of my preconceived notions of things a husband should do. For instance my dad always cleaned the tub and for some reason my husband still refuses to take that assignment. But, we’ve only been married six years so I still have time to work on this.

 So tell me are there assigned duties in your relationship and are they because they make sense or because of assumed gender roles?

Writing While Exhausted

This week has been weird. Although I know I got a lot of work done on my second manuscript, I also feel as if I haven’t done anything at all. I think it’s because I’ve been so tired. The summer is finally catching up to me. My non-stop pace at home and work slapped me in the face last weekend and said “Sit yo ass down somewhere”. Now normally I would ignore this not so subtle hint that I need to rest and keep moving, but when I sat down and thought about it I realized that I hadn’t rested in weeks. But as you all know, life happens and resting goes to the bottom of the priority list. 

I am proud of the fact that although it was tough to squeeze enough energy to focus on writing I made myself do it. Read more of this post

Am I Jaded Or Are Other Women Clueless

Last week during lunch with colleagues the discussion touched on the many affairs in a certain office that will go unnamed. I agree with the overall need for an eye roll when discussing people having casual office affairs, but what threw me was the way the women were completely shocked that the married men were cheating on their wives. One even exclaimed “But he’s a leader in his church”, which I responded with a “That doesn’t mean anything.” In my humble opinion men in power (i.e. church leaders) are probably provided with more opportunities to cheat than others. I had no idea this office was the true incarnation of The Young and the Restless, but I wasn’t surprised to hear what was going on. It had me ask myself if I’ve become jaded, or are other women clueless. Read more of this post