First Draft to Published

Spring Break for college students at Universities brings to mind images of rich kids vacationing in Mexico and Palm Springs and having parties and getting arrested for making fools of themselves. But, what is spring break all about? Spring break is the time, if you're studious, to catch up on all your future assignments so you won't be waiting until the last minute. Of course, if you are a procrastinator and prefer to wait until the night before your assignment is due, then you have to be prepared for a few things. One of them is sayings directed at procrastinators that seem to be as common as blond jokes. Failing to prepare is preparing to fail and the other saying is, whatever can happen, will happen. Procrastination is idleness at its best and wouldn’t you rather be the student who got the A and turned the paper in on time rather than the student who has to come up with a lame excuse. Here are five things that just might cause you to miss your deadline if you don’t start...

James Hayman, author of the thriller, The Cutting talks about his character Michael McCabe and how he took on a life of his own in the pages of The Cutting. About the Book: NYPD homicide detective Mike McCabe left New York for Maine to escape his own dark past and to find a refuge from the violence of the big city for himself and his teenaged daughter, but on the fog-shrouded, cobblestone streets of Portland he finds far more than he bargained for. On a warm September evening the mutilated body of Katie Dubois, a pretty high school soccer star, turns up, dumped in a Portland scrap yard. Her heart has been neatly and expertly cut from her body. The same day Lucinda Cassidy, a young Portland business-woman and competitive runner, disappears during her morning jog. Soon other bodies turn up. All young, all blond, all athletes. Very quickly McCabe discovers he’s on the trail of no ordinary killer. Rather his prey is a brilliant, psychopathic surgeon who kills in a bizarre way to satisfy ...

Soul and Spirit in African American Culture By Stephanie Rose Bird The Big Book of Soul: the Ultimate Guide to the African American Spirit: Legend & Lore, Music and Mysticism, Recipes and Rituals, by Stephanie Rose Bird(Hampton Roads, 2010) takes an unusual path to understanding soul and spirit in African cultures. As an herbalist that practices African earth-based spirituality, I used my background as the lens through which to understand the African American spirit. Some words are more conceptual than they are easy to define; such is the case with spirit, soul and yes, even African American Spirit. Let’s examine each of these individually. When I think of spirit, I think of many different aspects of the word. I think of Holy Spirit of course but I also consider that part of the self that perseveres and shines—both are spirit. Spirit is very connected to heart, an aspect of the self that I also gave plenty of room to in my book. Soul is so many things. It is a heart-felt sp...

About a year ago I had a chance to meet our author F.M. Meredith at The Los Angeles Time Book Festival . She was at the festival promoting her books having driven half a day to get there. She is a great promoter of her books, something that is so valuable to authors today. So, in promoting her 6th book, An Axe to Grind I asked her how she balanced writing and promotion. An Axe to Grind - Synopsis Detective Doug Milligan and his partner question suspects in the murder of a stalker including the stalker's target, her boyfriend, father and brother, as well as the stalker’s step-father. The investigation leaves little time for Doug to see his fiancée and fellow officer, Stacey Wilbur. Stacey handles a molestation case which involves the son of a friend. She and her mother talk wedding plans, though all must wait until Doug's renter, Officer Gordon Butler finds another place to live. When Doug disappears while tailing a suspect, Stacey sets out to find him, hoping she can reach hi...

The picture is a statue of a young Eugene O'Neil. Avoiding one’s problems never leads to a good thing and Eugene O’Neil demonstrates in the play Long Day’s Journey into Night that by leaving problems unresolved they become bigger problems. The characters each have their own set of problems including addiction, sickness, loose and miserly behavior. Each Tyrone is a victim of their own circumstance which they helped to create and now are unable to escape their invisible cages. They are also the oppressor for the next Tyrone. O’Neil designed the play as a series of encounters each character is placed with one, two or three of the others until every combination is worked through. It seems as if each character is at the mercy of their past. Throughout the play the characters dwell on the “What If scenario,” those who influenced them, their dreams, ambitions and their disappointments. Avoidance has worsened the problems of the Tyrone’s because it has torn apart a family that could have b...