Getting to know me a little better
I love writing stories. I am no Stephen King, Dr. Mildred Dumas or Jerry Jenkins (yet), but I am working my way there. I am 52 years old and not ashamed of my age. I am blessed to have gotten this far. God has blessed me and I am grateful. I can say that I get most of my artistic side from my mom, but my dad is a funny guy who, til this day, loves to tell us stories and jokes. I am an introvert, but not extreme, which I get from my dad. I accepted Christ at 24, and not that I haven't messed up several times, I still have faith and believe Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior.
I know and believe all things, including my writing, are in God's timing.
"All slaves have a story to tell. Millions will never get the chance because of death by lynching, and any other forms of murderous torture used in those days. Now, I know stories about the Slavery War have been told repeatedly, but this one hasn’t, because my great-grandmother was the only survivor of it in all her family. Meaning, she was the last one in my family to be a slave and still alive to tell her history." ~Nakida.
“If it wasn’t for my great-granddaughter asking questions and wanting to know where she comes from, I probably would have taken my story to the grave. Slavery was a nasty business, and I learned firsthand of the hurt and pain it caused for those being taken, the families who lost their loved ones and left behind. As much as I didn’t understand what happened to me, I am amazed at the outcome.” ~Nakdi.
The Ghosts of Slavery's Dance Scripture:
Slavery has existed a long time. Even the Bible talks about Slavery, but the Ghosts (Slave owners, the tribe leaders who sold their people for money or safety) have corrupted what God had intended. The only cause mentioned in the Pentateuch (Scriptures) for selling a man into bondage without his consent: per the Jewish Encyclopedia, is his inability to make due restoration for goods stolen (Ex. xxii. 2); but from II Kings iv.1-7, in the kingdom of Israel the sons of an insolvent deceased debtor were sold for the father’s debts, and from Isa. iv. 1: that in the kingdom of Judah the debtor was forced to sell his children to appease his creditors.
The Law, unless the passage in Leviticus which speaks of “your brother,” when he “waxes poor” and “is sold to you,” refers to a sale for debt or the critics are right in ascribing to the laws has now found a later origin than that of Elisha or Deuteron-Isaiah; this is not supporting their usage of slaves. We owed them nothing!
To watch full video, click here: https://youtu.be/jiiDMXxxUO4
The Ghost's of Slavery's Dance: No More Chains
The Ghost's of Slavery's Dance is a compilation from a couple of dreams, watching 12 Years A Slave, and wanting to write a triumphant love story despite the slave degradation and experience. When I wrote Unconditional Counsel, I had several dreams and one in the book is when Erica dreams she's stuck on a slave ship and it crashes into rocks and she's floating to the bottom of the ocean and her chains melt away, and she's freed.
From a certain part in the movie of 12 Year's A Slave, there was this scene of Alfre Woodard, as she was the black mistress of the house to a puggy old white man. Now, I recognize within that scene she didn't love him, but his infatuation or whatever you call it, she was his mistress because she didn't want to be out in the field picking cotton, but what if an interracial couple could survive slavery's dance? I thought about a story being told from that perspective of love between a white slave owner and a woman he's bought. The dynamics of what that would look like and could a love like that survive during and at the end of slavery?
The Ghost's of Slavery's Dance: No More Chains Reading:
All reading will be on the NNB Author's Point of View YouTube Channel Videos. Check the whole video out there: https://youtu.be/jiiDMXxxUO4
Writing Topic: What is your Why for writing?
So, when you write, you must put time and focus into it, but your WHY is the driving force to persevere. Prior to me getting serious about writing, I would write whenever God gave me a dream, or an idea came, or when I had the time. I wrote, but it wasn't a focused effort. From 1991 to 2013, I had written five novels and done nothing with them. Until a little birdy named Maria Johnson-Robinson showed me her book that she wrote, The Root of Rejection. She's revamped it since then, it's now, Rejection: It's All About Perception.
I've learned since 2013, that I have to focus and schedule out time to write. I can't haphazardly write. I have to write with intention. Especially when you know God has given it to you to write. A desire, that passion comes over you to want to share what God has given you, and what your imagination has produced to the world. Not to get approval from others, but to touch someone's life with your stories. To help someone else and pay it forward. This is my why for writing.
Writing Resource: https://literaryagencies.com/ Literary Agencies & Agents
This resource is a great way to find agents and agencies for your genre. Just click on the link above and it will take you there. Again, this is not the only site out there, so do your research. This is a starting point for newbies..
Q & A: What are common traps for aspiring writers?
I believe that misinformation and disingenuous information on the internet is a trap for aspiring writers. There is so much information out there that a new or aspiring writer has to sift through. I was one of those writers who didn't have a mentor guiding me on how to navigate this writing, learning, marketing, and publishing world. There are a lot of programs out there that give you pieces of the dream for a little money; only later to drag you into that never-ending cycle of, in order to get this secret, you must pay a much higher price to get the information you need to advance your writing career.
This is the reason I stress in most of these videos to do your do diligence in researching what best fits you, before you pay a dime to anyone. My suggestion is to try traditionally publishing your work before you decide to self-publish. Self-publishing is a viable option for everyone, but it comes at a cost of time, energy, and money out of pocket. Traditionally publishing has its drawbacks too, but they do most of the work for you after the manuscript is complete. Paying for advertising and marketing can be costly. So, weigh your options and if you don't find success traditionally publishing through an agent and Literary Agency, by all means, self-publish.
Next Week:
Join me next week for the final blog and web video in this series:
The Container
The overbearing alarm is screaming; triumphant in its attempt in waking her from a deep horrifying dream.
NNB Author's P.O.V.
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