Author: Michelle's Site

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Inspiration

Kimberla Lawson Roby and me

Back in 2008, my book club won a contest to have dinner with Kimberla Lawson Roby.  I volunteered to pick her up from the airport and drive her to the restaurant.  I had just started seriously thinking about writing a novel and I jumped at the chance to have some one on one time with a New York Times Bestseller.  We chatted during the drive from the airport and she asked me what I did for a living.  I told her and added that I really wanted to do what she was doing.   She didn’t laugh.  She didn’t roll her eyes.  She was encouraging and offered to read my first chapter.  When she signed my book she wrote, “Thank you for everything.  Please finish your novel.”  Words that have motivated me to this day.  Needless to say, I’ve been a bit of a groupie ever since.

Our book club went to see her in Augusta, GA the next year.

Tomorrow Kimberla will be in my town for a signing at Books-a-Million.  Her new book, “Secret Obsession” came out this week.  I will be there.  Stay tuned for an updated picture.

Journey Beyond Book Club

What I’m reading now:  “My Soul to Take” – Tananarive Due

What I’m listening to: “All Woman” – Lisa Stansfield

 

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Movie Review – The Adjustment Bureau

I know I’m like a year late with this but Sunday night I rented “The Adjustment Bureau”.  The basic premise of the movie is that David Norris (Matt Damon) discovers that there is a “power” or agency that controls the plan for your life.  Free will is an illusion and most of the mishaps in your life are really designed to steer you toward your chosen plan.

The movie was a dramatic thriller that told the story of David, a man destined to eventually be President of the US.  By chance, he meets a woman, Elise Sellas (Emily Blunt) and their connection is instant and life changing.  When David accidentally walks in on the “Bureau” changing the thought process of a friend, the curtain is pulled back to reveal an organization that controls/manages the life plan for everyone based on orders from “The Chairman”.  He is told that Elise in not part of his life plan.  David knows that he shouldn’t pursue Elise but he is compelled to be with her at all cost.

Is our own life plan really in our control?  Is our life plan really in our control?  We have all experienced times when a decision we have made backfires.  It could be a missed opportunity because we weren’t ready to receive it.  It could be something as simple as a missed phone call.  Or having to change a shirt that causes you to arrive at a destined place later than planned.  Maybe there is a reason these things happen .  Instead of cursing these inconveniences, maybe we should embrace the possibilities that it was meant to be.  If you believe in a higher power than you can take comfort in the knowledge that your steps have been pre ordered for your good.  The old cliché that “things happen for a reason” seems to be based on the fact that things really do happen or not happen for a reason.  Maybe its the romantic in me but the best part of the movie, as it is in life, is the adage that “True love conquers all.”  It is worth fighting for!

Just watch out for the guys in hats!

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Story Soundtrack – Coming Soon!

 

It’s been a crazy week at work.  We are transitioning to a new accounting system so my time has been devoted to learning new charge codes, cost centers and grant management systems.   It hasn’t left much time to write so my story for this week is unfinished.  But don’t despair.  We have a long weekend (YES!) coming and a fresh new story soundtrack will be posted next week.

Happy Labor Day everyone.

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Can We Spoil Our Kids Until They Are Rotten?

Most people in my generation can say that they have achieved more than their own parents.   Some of us have better paying jobs and more education based on the hard work and sacrifices of our parents and relatives.  It stands to reason that we in turn are in a financial place to provide more for our kids than what we had growing up.  Speaking for my own kids, they have cell phones, iPods, Nintendo Wii, a family desktop computer, etc.  And it goes beyond material things.  We chose where we live in order to be in a good school district.  They don’t really know what it is to do without something that need.  They have never been hungry.  That’s a good thing.  Every child should have access to medical care and good schools.  Every child should have their needs provided for and get to have some of the things they want.  But what is too much?  If you give  your kids everything, how will they learn to appreciate what they have?

My husband and I try to make sure that our girls know that they are fortunate.  We try to instill in them a work ethic and to understand that nothing in life is just handed to you.  We try to make them understand that you have to work for things that you want.  I hope the lesson is getting through.  I enjoy being able to spoil my kids.  I just don’t want them to turn out rotten.

What I’m listening to:  “If You Don’t Know Me By Now” – Teddy Pendergrass

What I’m reading now:  “The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey” – Walter Mosley

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From “The Help” to “Run the World(Girls)”

The Strength of Women

This is not a movie review.

Sunday afternoon I went to see “The Help” with my mother and sister.  I don’t want to talk about the merits of a white author telling a Black story.  I don’t want to discuss the politics of Black actress still playing maids in 2011.  (Although Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer were simply awesome!)  And I don’t want to focus on the historical inaccuracies in both the book and the movie.

My take away from the movie was the strength of women.  Black women in particular.  These women encountered injustice, racism, slights, cruelty and plain evil on a daily basis.  Yet they still got up and took care of their children and the white babies in their charge.  They went to church, looked out for their family, friends and neighbors and paid their bills.  In short, they survived.

Fast forward to today.  Opportunities are endless.  We are no longer the help unless that is the career we choose.  We can run corporations. We can serve in Congress.  We have the power to run the world.  Yet too many of us give that power away.  We give that power away through bad decisions, giving in to our circumstances and losing hope.  We give that power away by being afraid.

Whether you are a fan of Beyoncé’s or not, you have to give her credit for sounding a rally cry for women.  I  belive that women do run the world.  We birth and raise the babies.  We take care of and empower our men.  We hold it together for everyone around us sometimes to the detriment of ourselves.  We not only survive.  We effect change.

I enjoyed the movie “The Help.”  It may not have been a perfect depiction of the civil rights era but it is a perfect depiction of the strength of women.  I was reminded me of the power we possess.

Enjoy!

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How to Love Unconditionally – Martha Beck’s Advice – Oprah.com

This article is so profound that I had to share.  Please read and enjoy.

How to Love Unconditionally – Martha Beck’s Advice – Oprah.com.

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Aaliyah 10th Anniversary: What Could Have Been If She Had Lived

I was a huge Aaliyah fan back in the day and cried like she was my sister when she died.  This article from the Root.com is a heartfelt tribute to “Baby Girl”.

 

Aaliyah 10th Anniversary: What Could Have Been If She Had Lived.

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Writing Update

I think I have a handle on things.  As I’ve mentioned before, finding time to write with a full-time job and family can be hard.  Most of my writing time has been regulated to an hour at night, 30 minutes at work and the weekends.  That made for slow progress.  In the past, I would get up an hour earlier so I would have uninterrupted writing time.  That’s not working this time.  Now I have a new plan.  I have changed my work hours to a four-day work week which gives me a full day off.  Since the kids are back in school I have the house to myself.  We’ll see how much I can get done in a day.

On a related note, I am having a good time writing short stories.  I subscribe to the Lifewriting Tips by Steven Barnes.  One of those tips revolved around the notion of training or exercising your writing muscles.  They only way to get good at something is to practice.  Short stories are an excellent vehicle to “practice” story telling.  Taken from Steven’s Free Online Writing Classes about short stories:  “This is Basic story telling, a “Sprint”, with no time to rest. In many ways the essence of the story form.  Educational as hell, and also quite confrontive. Many people avoid it, but the short story remains the method of choice for developing professional-level skills.”

My goal is to have a “Story Soundtrack” story at least once a week.  As far as the novel goes, I am on chapter fifteen of edits.  The longest journey begins with just one step, right?

Peace,

Michelle

What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “Smile” – Kirk Franklin
What I am reading now: “Mogul” – Terrance Dean

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Date Night – Movie Review “Rise of the Planet of the Apes”

Last night the hubby and I did the dinner and a movie date night.  I can’t remember the last time we went out without the kids.  And that’s a sign that some couple time was long overdue.

Anyway, I wanted to see the new Planet of the Apes movie.  I was a fan of the original.  Anyone in the Metro knows that during the summer in the 70’s and early 80’s you went downtown to the movie theatre on Main Street.  I remembering riding the bus with a couple of friends and we would escape the heat inside the theatre.  I enjoyed the original “POA” movie and hoped that this prequel would do justice to the franchise.

It did.  “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes” is a smart and entertaining film.  The story revolves around a scientist, Will, and his desperate attempt to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease.  Testing the drug on chimpanzees, the virus mutates and not only repairs brain cells but gives the test subject human level intelligence.  After a lab incident threatens to shut down the project, the baby chimp “Caesar” is found and taken to live with Will and his ill father.  Caesar has inherited his mother’s intelligent and learns at a fast pace.

Without giving away the entire plot, I will simply say this film is well worth the $10 to catch it in the theatre.  The characters are well-developed and the plot is filled with “shout outs” to the original.  Even the CGI special effects were realistic.  The movie pulls you in and leaves you wondering whether you should root for the apes and their freedom or for the humans to survive the fate that awaits them.

What’s Playing on the iPod right now: “Hard Knock Life” – Jay-Z
What I am reading now: “Rum Punch” – Elmore Leonard

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First Day of School Rituals

 

Yesterday was the first day of school for my girls.  Ever since they started pre-school, we have a ritual where I take their picture before they head out the door.  This  year I thought that they were too old for the practice (10th and 7th grade).  Boy, was I wrong.  They both asked about their picture before I could get them out the door.   Who knew it meant as much to them as it did to me?

Do you have a first day of school ritual that you follow with your kids?

 

What I’m listening to:  “Everchanging Times” – Siedah Garrett

What I’m reading:  “Hunting in Harlem” – Mat Johnson