Writers Manual- The Bragging Zone for Writers Worldwide

The Life of Your Writer...

     What are doing now? (Career? Married? Single? Children? Pets? Etc.)
          I'm Single. I have an adopted son, Curtis, and a grandchild, age 5.

     What is your favorite...
          Food: Spaghetti
          Color: Red
          Taste: Ice
          Person: My mother
          Memory: The day I saw my finished product/published book, A Conspiracy to Ponder in my hand.
          Article of clothing: Black pair of jeans

     What is your favorite quote and why?
          "A fool babbles on and on while a wise man holds his tongue," because when you're constantly talking, you're not learning. You learn by listening and observing. And I witness so many people talking non-stop, professing to know it all. In a Public Relations course, they were referred to as "hard-core no-nothings."

     What is your most favorite quality about yourself?
          My favorite quality about myself is my self-critical nature, which makes me strive for perfection in everything I do and be the best I can be.

     What is your least favorite quality about yourself?
          My least favorite quality about myself is my impatience for things to happen when I want them to happen.

     If you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why?
          I've always wanted to go to Paris and see if the boulevard in the painting Rainy Day in Paris exists. It is my favorite impressionistic painting.

Your Writer's Perspective

     What inspires you to write and why?
          I write mainly as an escape. Some people read, watch soaps, gamble, do yoga, I write. It totally relaxes me.

     What is the best tip you can give to fellow writers?
          Never give up. Persevere. Work hard.

     What is your favorite genre to write and why?
          My favorite genres are Fiction-Mystery and Horror. I just love to escape to places and into situations I wouldn't dare to go in real life. Also, I have been a victim of such horrible events in my life, that I can describe such horrors with an accuracy and depth that the ordinary man or woman can't.

     What is your favorite book and why?
          My favorite book is Jame Agee's Masterpiece: A Death in the Family. As a matter of fact, I won an Honorable Mention Award from New Millennium Writings in the summer of 2001 for my short fiction story entitled Past Revisited and Future Uplifted by James Agee's Masterpiece: A Death in the Family. I like the way his scenes play out like a motion picture, simultaneous thought and action at play. Brilliant! My second favorite is Last Exit to Brooklyn. When I first heard my professor, Mel Livatino of Truman College, read the first 3-4 pages, he took me there. I could envision the seamen in the Brooklyn bar discussing cars, etc. Brilliant!

     List your three favorite authors (any genre) and why?
          One of my favorite authors is Dr. Maya Angelou, because she makes words sing and dance on the page like Mark Twain, who is my favorite author. She can write so vividly that you feel like you can taste the chicken she describes, or feel the pain a character feels in her novels. I love Mark Twain's Letters from Earth, a sarcastic piece about Satan visiting Earth and writing back about the satires of worship and the Bible. Mark Twain was an agnostic, and in that piece he mocks religion, even though I'm a religious person. But his sarcasm and power of description is brilliant in that piece. Another one of my favorite writers is Ken Follet, a mystery writer. He's so thorough; however, I tend to figure out the plot half-way through his novels.

     What do you think makes a writer successful?
          First of all, what makes a writer successful is the power of knowing that they truly have a story worth telling. Then, his/her ability to develop that story; his/her ability to describe that story so that his reader can visit the places he describes, feel the happiness and pain his characters exhibit, taste what's being described, witness what is actually happening. When he can truly provoke the all the senses of his readers, lure them into the story like he/she, himself has to do to arrive at a story that truly affects his reading audience, deeply, significantly, so much so that they have to tell others about what they've read, then he/she is a successful writer.

     What is it that makes you successful as a writer?
          What makes me successful as a writer is my ability to do what I just described above, that being my ability to take you into the story, where I, myself, ventured to create/write the story. Unless you can get into the story and actually become the characters you're writing about, I can't see you writing something successful.

A Writer's Journey

     What are your goals as a writer?
          I want one of my books to be read in the classrooms, like the works of great writers I've studied in Creative Writing. I want my books to be books that everybody can read-clean and wholesome, yet powerful in its content and delivery. I want to win writing awards and accolades at some point.

     What is the best tip you can give to fellow writers?
          Never give up. Persevere. Work hard.

     What do you hope to provide your readers with through your writing?
          I'd like to provide a few of life's lessons from which they can learn, i.e. things I've experienced that were bad, that could keep them from venturing there to feel the hurt I or others have experienced. Or I'd like them to enjoy the adventures I've explored with my mind.

     List your three favorite online writer-resource sites and why?
          A few of my favorite writer-resource sites are Writer Gazette, Absolute Write, and Midwest Book Review.

     Tell us about your publishing success (book title, genre, publishing date, publishing company or self-publishing).
          I am the author of a mystery-fiction entitled A Conspiracy to Ponder, published July/August 2002 by American Book Publishing.
          Visit my website and read the wonderful reviews I received from the Midwest Book Review, the RAWSISTAZ Reviewers, and others. So far, it's going well. I'm going to Ohio in April to do my first TV talk show (Sunday Mornings with Ode Aduma, Channel 27 - WKBN TV. It will be taped April 30 and air May 4), which I'm excited about.

     How long did it take you to write your book(s) and why?
          It took me, in all, approximately 2 years to write this book. It was originally named The Ebony Compromise. After sending it to a literary agent to review, she suggested I split the book into two books and get serious. That's how A Conspiracy to Ponder came about. Then she suggested I go to the library and do some serious research, as my parts for pay theme was taking place all over the world. It was after the research that I incorporated the Chinese reporter by the name of Wu Chong into the story, who lends his expertise to get to the bottom of what's going on in the mystery. Her literary advice and skills were exceptional. It was Dr. Sharon Kissane who taught me the mechanics of writing and research.
          After submitting my book to the late author, Robert Tamarkin, he then lent his expertise, and over the phone literally and verbally taught me the power of description, such as what I described above. He told me that I had to allow my reading audience to envision something for themselves, without actually telling them. The example he used is, imagine a man blowing a horn. You don't say the man blew the horn. You'd describe how his cheeks swelled, his fingers danced, etc. So you're seeing it without being told it. You're able to envision it for yourself, which is primarily why people read. They want to imagine it themselves. So every time I would get the book back for editing, I would add more and more description.

     What would you do differently if you had to repeat the same publishing experience?
          Hold out for a bigger publishing company, as opposed to a small press.

     What have you learned about the publishing world through your experience?
          I've learned that what you can expect from the publishing world is all that you submit to it. Meaning if you work hard, you'll get results in the publishing world. If you don't, you'll find the publishing world a major disappointment.

Your Writer's Response

     This is your chance to talk back to your readers. What would you like to say to them?
          Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support...for your word of mouth...for appreciating what I've done and how I did it.

     What's the one thing that you want them to know about your writing?
          Although fiction, it's based on a lot of real-life experiences, characters, and places.


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