Countdown to Publication #0 Days It Happened on Monday

Our takes on the last day before Uptown is officially released.

DONNA

It happened on Monday. I was taking a shower when it hit. Yes, it was 2:30 in the afternoon. I hadn’t been away from the computer until then. I made myself get up because Virginia and I needed to get to the post office. And I really needed a shower—Trust me.

So I soaped up some essential parts, and then the wave smacked me upside the head and left me woozy—Uptown pubs tomorrow and until that moment I thought I had my feelings under control. No big deal. We did everything we could do—write what we feel is a fast paced book, with intriguing characters and situations and let as many readers know it’s coming as we can. I mean, really, it’s not like it’s the first time.

But it’s really always the first time. No matter how I prep for it there is always the point when my feelings get out of control. Kind of like when I’ve had surgery. I am calm in my hospital pajamas as they walk me to the surgery suite, swaddle me in the microwaved blanket and look for my veins. No big deal I tell myself. My doctor has explained the procedure (and I’ve triple checked on the internet). These are trained professionals, blah, blah, blah. And then there comes this moment when my brain is screaming, “Oh crap. They’re gonna cut me open and move stuff around!!!” Fortunately, that moment happens shortly before anesthesia is administered. To read the rest of this post, click here:

Candid Camera Photo of the Day #11

A literary flashback: The Spanish edition of our very first book, Exposures!!! As far as we know there are only two copies left in the whole wide world!

Candid Camera

We have been slackers. No blog postings for a while–and just in case you’re wondering why–we’re back in the writing cave. Our new book, Uptown, is due to our editor on June 1, so our noses are to the grindstone and our twenty fingers to the keyboard.

Last year while we were finishing What Doesn’t Kill You, we serialized Exposures, our first novel, on the blog. It was fun and you seemed to enjoy that, but we don't have any more secret novels hanging out in the desk drawer. We’ve been racking our brains trying to figure out what we could do this time around to let you know we still care, we’re still thinking about you and of course want you to keep coming by and seeing what we have going on.

Soooo we’ve come up with the “Photo of the Day.” They’ll be random pictures from our lives, present and past, our work environment, stuff we see, people we meet–a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Enjoy and be sure to let us know what you think! First pic below... a new one tomorrow!

This is a collage we made when we were writing Tryin' to Sleep in the Bed You Made to remind ourselves to always include the 5 senses. Now it's framed and hangs in our office because sometimes we still need reminding!

You NEVER Come to My City...

We’ve got our tour dates posted, and we’re starting to think about what the weather will be like in Little Rock, Arkansas, or Birmingham, AL or . . . This is about the time we get emails saying, “But you’re not coming to my city. You NEVER come to my city.” It’s not because we don’t want to. Honestly, we are very fortunate to be going on a publisher sponsored book tour at all. Like everything else, book tours are not what they used to be. They are generally shorter—more like a sample than a tour, which means there are a lot of folks we haven’t seen in a long time. Like the folks in Texas—Dallas-Ft Worth, Austin, Houston, Florida—Tampa-St.Pete, Orlando, Miami, St Louis, Kansas City, Portland, OR, Phoenix, Denver. . . It doesn’t mean we don’t love you. It just means we—meaning you and us—have to figure out our own way.

How do we do that? Well, it’s about joining forces. We find it difficult to get to individual book clubs these days (although when our schedule permits, we can arrange a phoner). There aren’t enough hours in the day, days in the week, weeks in the month. . . But if you reach out to other book clubs to make a larger group, invite other visitors—you get the picture. The more, the merrier, because we like to visit with as many readers in an area as we can. Besides, who doesn’t love an excuse to get together and meet new people.

How do we get there? Well, we have a four hour rule in terms of driving—if your City is within four hours of the metro NY-NJ area, we will consider driving. We actually enjoy car trips—and we do sing along with the tunes—loud and wrong. If you are further away, then you need to provide transportation—not Greyhound, although we have done Amtrak. We have had sororities, professional groups, and book clubs (Like Tabahani in Long Beach, California and Turning Pages in the Bay Area) fly us out for events. Hey, turn it into a fund raising brunch or lunch. All kinds of amazing things happen when folks put their heads and dollars together! Nothing like having a great time and doing some good too. As for accommodations--what we need is a place to stay if it’s more than a day trip—not cousin Mary’s spare room, although we’re sure it’s very nice. One hotel room, two beds works fine.

We are also available for keynote speeches—how do two people give one speech? The same way we write one book! We have spoken for Dell Computer, Texas Conference for WomenWork! . . . For info and rates contact:
Tyrha M. Lindsey908-672-6024tyrha.lindsey@laicommunications.com

Bottom line—if you’d like us to visit your city-we’re definitely game, so come up with a plan, contact us, and let’s see if we can work it out!

"I'm a Black writer." GUEST-GUEST Blog

OK. Here's the deal--today we are reposting a "guest-guest" blog. This is a commentary written by Denene Millner, as a guest on Eisa Ulen's blog http://www.eisaulen.com/blog/


"I'm a Black writer."

By Denene Millner

Three more hours to go, and I’ll hear the bus rush down the street, signaling that my time is… up. The giggly girls will tumble up the brick stairs, backpacks askew, twists flying, serving up juicy kisses and demanding sweet treats—Golden Oreos, strawberries, and peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches (folded, not cut, in half). That’s what they’ll want—that, and my undivided attention. There will be no more time for my other babies—the characters in my books.

The clock ticks.

I am struggling.

Full of doubt.

And wondering, yet again, why I don’t just give this writing thing up and get a real job somewhere—like Starbucks or the Georgia State Road and Tollway Authority. I could make lattes or collect dollars, and stop thinking about words already.

And why not?

I’ve got 12 books with my name on them, including my latest, Hotlanta, the first in a three-book series I’ve written with my co-author, Mitzi Miller, and three more books on the way. I’ve also written for an eclectic mix of magazines—from Essence to Parenting to Money to Men’s Fitness—during a writing career that’s spanned more than two decades. Yet today, I’m feeling like my job as an African-American author is one of the most thankless, underappreciated, low-paying jobs on the planet.What’s got me in a tizzy? A prominent book editor’s quote in a recent newspaper article, saying that black authors who’ve had a successful book or two don’t have the right to expect long careers as writers.

My first response? Anger.

My second: What gives her the right?

My third: Resignation.

Maybe I should just go on down to Starbucks. Because clearly, there’s just no respect for what we African-American writers do. We’re being left behind, hung out to dry—devalued. By publishers with editors who feel comfortable saying publicly that black writers should find another way to pay the bills, no matter their passion or past successes…

To read the rest of this commentary please visit
http://www.eisaulen.com/blog/

WRITING IS NOT PRETTY

We got our first real copies of Gotta Keep on Tryin’, on Tuesday. We even celebrated with the UPS guy—he’s the regular guy—so he knows what we do and said he was honored to be the first “real person” to see the new book. We are always supremely silly when we see the first book—in the dust jacket, all nice and shiny. Until then, it’s like we have hallucinated this notion that we have written a book and someone is going to publish it. The book is physical evidence. This is novel number five and it happens every time.

We have it on the desk while we’re working to finish What Doesn’t Kill You, our next book—it’s kind of inspiration and sometimes we stare at it and grin for no apparent reason—very goofy.

We had this cute (retarded) idea that we were going to take a picture of ourselves holding the book to include with the blog today. Then we got up this morning, and the ridiculousness of this notion became apparent when we looked at each other. Because we are eyelash deep in writing, and writing is not cute.

On any given day we are wearing whatever we can put our hands on that is reasonably clean—color coordinated is optional. Virginia finally had to toss a red sweater she wore so long (through our early magazine adventure and three books) that her mother, who is unfailingly sweet, said, “I would like never to see that sweater again, dear.” Donna is still breaking in a new pink and white striped button down shirt—the old one finally disintegrated. Shredded really, not at the seams, the actual fabric.

Our hair is frequently standing pretty much the same way it was when it left our respective pillows. OK, maybe a little finger combing has taken place—Virginia found something crunchy and unidentifiable in hers this morning. Are we scaring you? Sorry, but these are the sad facts—not pretty.

Neither are writer’s desks. Whenever you see a photo of a writer sitting in a handsome chair, before a gleaming desk, with a pen and pencil set mounted in a polished wood stand, a leather bound journal, and a bouquet of jonquils, and they tell you that’s where they work—they are lying. Writing is chaotic. Our desk has this morning’s coffee cups, yesterday’s soda cans, water glasses, wine glasses (we like to stay hydrated), a salt shaker and two crackers left over from yesterdays soup, a tape measure (no that’s not how we measure the length of the manuscript), a dead light bulb laying in a votive holder, floppy disks from two books ago, notes taped to the monitor, a heating pad, bottles of Mucinex and Aleve (for Virginia’s cold and Donna’s sprained thumb), papers, pamphlets, business cards, a week’s worth of unopened mail, tissue boxes, various sweaters, jackets and bras (which can become particularly restrictive to thought and thus must be removed), nail polish remover. . . You get the idea, and like we said, it’s not pretty.

So, imagine if you will, the two of us looking rested and well groomed seated at our gleaming desk and smiling as we hold our new book. It’s a nice picture—just not today.

BOOK TOUR

When we’re writing, the idea that an actual book will come out seems like some kind of crazy dream. Even when we type, “The End,” and collapse in a heap, it only seems marginally real. Yes, then you get cover art and a publication date and your heart starts to flutter. And now we’ve got our first book tour dates! That means the count down has officially started and Gotta Keep on Tryin’ is preparing to launch.

We’re excited to be starting on the West Coast. We haven’t visited our readers in California in several books, so we have catching up to do. And we’ve never been to South Carolina, so Columbia, here we come!

We know it’s early—January is still a few months away. But here are our tour dates so far.

The info is sketchy, with some times and locations to come, but this is a start. Book clubs, we’d love to see you. By all means let us know you’re coming—because we’ll have presents for you! We are really excited for you to catch up with Pat, Gayle and Marcus, and we’ve got plenty of other news to share too. We want to make this a cross country happening!


Tour Dates and Signings:
OAKLAND, CA
Wednesday, January 23rd; 6:30 PM
Marcus Books (3900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland, CA 94609)
*Signing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Thursday, January 24th; 12:30 PM
Alexander Book Company (50 2nd Street, San Francisco, CA 94105)
*Signing

SACRAMENTO, CA
Thursday, January 24th; 6:00 PM
Underground Books (2814 35th Street, Sacramento, CA 95817)
*Signing

LOS ANGELES, CA
Friday, January 25th; 7:00 PM
Eso Won Books (4331 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008)
*Signing

TORRANCE, CA
Saturday, January 26th; 2:00 PM
Borders Books & Music (3700 Torrance Blvd., Torrance, CA 90503)
*Signing

LONG BEACH, CA
Saturday, January 26th; 6:00 PM
Shore Books (4817 East 2nd Street, Long Beach, CA 90803)
*Signing

LOCATION TK
Sunday, January 27th; 11:00 AM
Tabahani Book Circle (Location TK)
*Author Brunch

LOCATION TK
Monday, January 28th; Time TK
Booking Matters Book Club (Location TK)
*Sign & Dine

ATLANTA, GA
Monday, January 28th; 1:00 PM
WaldenBooks (One CNN Center, Atlanta, GA 30303)
*Signing

ATLANTA, GA
Tuesday, January 29th; 6:30 PM
Medu Books (2841 Greenbriar Parkway SW, Atlanta, GA 30331)
*Signing

COLUMBIA, SC
Wednesday, January 30th; 4:00 PM
Literary Sweets (3800B North Main Street, Columbia, SC 29203)
*Signing

WASHINGTON D.C.
Thursday, January 31st; 6:30 PM
Karibu Books (3500 East West Hwy, Hyattsville, MD 20782)
*Signing

WASHINGTON D.C.
Friday, February 1st; 12:00 PM
B. Dalton (Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington D.C. 20002)
*Signing

WASHINGTON D.C.
Friday, February 1st; 7:00 PM
Greater Mt. Nebo AME Church Bookstore (1001 Old Mitchellville Road, Bowie, MD 20716)
*Signing

PHILDADELPHIA, PA
Saturday, February 2nd; 12:00 PM
Border Express (Gallery at Market East, Philadelphia, PA 19107)
*Signing

BEAR, DE
Saturday, February 2nd; 3:00 PM
Bear Library (Governors Square Shopping Center, 101 Governors Place, Bear, DE 19701)
*Signing

NEW YORK, NY
Thursday, February 7th; 6:30 PM
Hue Man Bookstore (2319 Frederick Douglass Blvd, New York, NY 10017)
*Signing

Terry, and Rev. Al, Nooses, and Bunny and Shirley

There is so much stuff going on, so much that we want to say our 4 cents worth about, that it regularly leaves our heads spinning. But we are seriously in writing mode (our December deadline approaches), and our time is limited. So here’s a little stream of consciousness.

--Have you read Terry McMillan’s email regarding the publication of her ex’s “novel” in particular and the state of published black books in general? If not, you can get to the email and Terry’s exchange with Troy at AALBC.com through Black Voices--Click here: TERRY MCMILLAN TAKES A STAND - Black Voices Blogs (http://blackvoices.aol.com/blogs/2007/10/05/terry-mcmillan-takes-a-stand/). What we can add—now more than ever, publishing is a Biz-ne$$. Whatever makes the most money is what you will see more of on the shelves, and that goes for every genre. So if there are authors you love, support them, or you won’t see them any more. Despite three successful and well received novels, it was tougher than you might imagine for us to find a publisher for Gotta Keep on Tryin’. We know lots of authors who find themselves in the same position. If you don’t see them on the shelves, they may not have decided they don’t want to write any more—they have solid skills, loyal readers, but they can no longer find a publishing home. That realization is part of what prompted Tina McElroy Ansa to found DownSouth Press. Please don’t take your favorite authors for granted (or your favorite book stores—Black Images in Dallas is gone and Eso Won in Los Angeles is in trouble) or they will be gone too.

--Rev. Al Sharpton is calling for a possible boycott of the Knicks if Isaiah Washington does not apologize for remarks he made about who it’s OK to call a bitch Click here: BOO BIRD REV. AL
(http://www.nypost.com/seven/10062007/news/nationalnews/boo_bird_rev__al.htm). We commented on that (September 20, 2007—Who You Callin’ B* * * H ), but it’s going to take other men, calling each other to task for their lack of respect, to change our culture of casual disrespect. And we’re glad that Rev. Al’s not giving Isaiah a pass—Sharpton is calling for accountability just as he did with Imus because WE KNOW that lack of respect isn’t necessarily about color.

--What is up with the return of the noose? There have been more incidents in the last several years than we care to remember—particularly in the work place, but most recently there is the Jena 6, a noose left in the locker of a Hempstead, NY police officer and now the noose left on the doorknob of a Columbia University professor. Is it that people are so far removed from the painful reality of lynchings that they don’t realize what a horrifying and oppressive symbol this is? Is it a cowardly way to invoke the power to put someone “in their place” that the perpetrator doesn’t feel he or she has without resorting to the power of the hangin’ rope? Is this a specifically racial response, or a response to people feeling squeezed and powerless in their own lives? Whatever it is, the only way to respond is to say loudly and in no uncertain terms, THIS IS NOT ACCEPTABLE. Protests in Jena, LA and at Columbia Teacher’s College make that clear, and we add our voices to that.

--And on the light side—Clearly, we are very aware of the power of friendship, we have completely enjoyed ours for 26 years or so, although it feels like forever—and we mean that in a good way. Well, now it seems that female elephants have best friends too. While watching CBS Sunday Morning (Click here: An Elephant's Tale In Tennessee, Bill Geist Visits An Elephant Sanctuary Where Pachyderms Go To Retire - CBS News - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/10/07/sunday/main3339972.shtml ) we became acquainted with pachyderm pals Shirley and Bunny, Winkie and Sissy, and Tarra and Dulary, elephants who now reside at the Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, TN, and it just made us smile (We’re particularly enamored of Bunny and Shirley.) Even elephants are smart enough to know ya gotta have a friend!

KID LIT & NOTES FROM THE AUDIO BOOK FRONTIER

We’re at Brilliance Audio in Grand Haven, MI, recording the audiobook of Gotta Keep on Tryin’. And we gotta say, rarely have we worked soooo hard (in a 6’x6’ soundproof booth) and had soooo much fun. This was our first shot at giving voice to our characters and their story and the word from our director and engineer, Laura 1 and Laura 2, is two thumbs up! We’ll give you more details (and pics) on a blog to come.

And on a writing note, high on the top five list of questions we are asked is, “How do you write a children’s book and get it published?” We never have a good answer for that one—the children’s book publishing world is soooo different from what we know about adult fiction. But we do have a friend, award winning author and illustrator (of such kid classics as Clean Your Room, Harvey Moon, Ananse and the Lizard: A West African Tale, and Angel Baby) Pat Cummings, who can tell you a thing or two on that score. Visit her website, http://www.patcummings.com/ to see more examples of her titles and her beautiful illustrations. Yes, it says under construction, but you can get to bio, books and the all important FAQs (and we love the carousel!).

And for those of you seriously motivated aspiring children’s book authors living in the NYC area, you have an opportunity for some up close and personal instruction and advice from Pat. She is again doing her “Children’s Book Boot Camp (don’t worry—there are no push-ups, but we hear there are often cookies involved). The three part workshops are divided into sessions for writers and illustrators. Application deadlines are approaching (October 12 for writers. October 19 for illustrators), so if it’s something you’ve said you always wanted to do, check out the flyer, bring your imagination and get busy.


Here's the basic info:
I teach a children's book class at Parsons and, after helping a bunch of
my students to get published, (one last year left with 5 contracts from
two houses...but he's admittedly a shocking exception) I've condensed the
class into 3 workshops that span 5 or 6 Saturdays.

Group A: writers with a picture book manuscript ready, or almost ready, to
submit.
Group B: illustrators with a dummy or project ready or nearly ready to
submit.

There's an application that I'll send out if contacted at: write2me@patcummings.com

Group A meets Oct. 27th, Nov. 10th and Dec. 1st.

group B meets Nov. 3rd, Nov. 17th and Dec. 8th.

In between meetings, everyone's supposed to polish their work and do what
needs to be done to present it. At the last workshop, there'll be an
editor or art director from a major house to review the work. The last
boot camp featured folks from Hyperion and Simon & Schuster.

The idea is to get the work of talented people in front of publishers who
can actually sign them up.
Not everyone who submits necessarily gets accepted. I don't want to waste
anyone's time or money. Over the years, I've had a growing number of
publishers who have signed up my students so I keep up with those folks
who are open to new talent.

Only people who I think can be matched to the publishers I know will be
accepted. The fee is $450. There will be a maximum of 10 participants
and the last workshop will feature a guest publisher who will review their
work.

Deadlines Are: Group A: Applications by 0ct. 12th/Notification by Oct. 18th/Fee due by Oct. 23rd

Group B: Applications by 0ct. 19th/Notification by Oct. 25th/Fee due by
Oct. 30th

Writers submit up to 100 words from their manuscript.
Illustrators submit 2 images representative of their style and a
manuscript if they have one.

The location is @ 29th St. & 5th Ave in Manhattan. The address and guest
publisher's name will accompany the acceptance note. (Henry Holt's publisher and Dial/Penguin's Art Director have signed on so it'll probably be them.

Anyone interested should email me with any questions at write2me@patcummings.com