And if you don't know, now you know ...

What’s good family?


In my last post I said I would try to post daily. I ask for your forgiveness and also ask that we don’t dwell on my broken promises. How about I promise to be consistent that’s a more attainable goal to hold myself to.

I have however been hard at work editing the first draft of the manuscript. The stages of writing a book seem never ending but I learn important things about myself at every stop. Like when I started I thought I could circumvent the process by writing my query, synopsis and proposal first. Then I learned that fiction doesn’t need a proposal. Taking a shortcut sent me the long route. And I’m not sure I feel any stronger about the query or synopsis because everything is done in such a vacuum. The only feedback I’ve received so far from the world of literary agents is silence, which compounds my financial desperation. The literary world feels somewhat elitists and I based that on a few factors. 1) I think I’ve found ONE person of color so far in the land of agents. 2) It’s 2010 and some of the larger agencies still ask you to submit via hard copy with a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope) to send your shit back with if they don’t like it. I don’t know about you but I can’t afford to send some company stamp money when I can use the Internet just the same. Feels like they want to help me self-select. And 3) I can't wrap my head around the idea that I need to spend money I don’t have right now to go to any number of conferences to hear them (agents) speak about the industry while starving writers (me) hang on their every word in hopes of an invitation to submit.

Meanwhile I just want to get into the jam cuz damn I know I’ll slam.


So with my cloud of witnesses and the weight of the dreams of my family on my shoulders I persist. In the immortal words of Puff I can’t stop, I won’t stop.

In honor of calling those things that are not as if they were I’ll leave you with B.I.G.’s Juicy. The street manifesto for the brother on the come up. In this video they were clearly showing us the lifestyle they wanted to live before they really had it. Dreams. Never let them go and never let THEM convince you to do so.

Spread love that’s the Brooklyn way …

M

Summer of '92

The summer of ’92 was probably the craziest summer of my life. Looking back now I understand it to be the first set of cataclysmic events in my early adult life. I was writing again back then, it’s surreal to reflect over that version of myself. It was my first attempt at writing the story of my life … the twenty year-old, kicked out of his parent’s house, crazy-weed-smoking, college drop out edition.

Most of my life is time-lined by music and Hip Hop dominates the majority of that time-line. Well, the summer of ’92 has two distinct songs on said time-line. One by Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth and the other by Dr. Dre & Snoop Doggy Dog (before Snoop Dog to Snoop). They Reminisce Over You & Deep Cover are just classic Hip Hop songs. My life changed so much over the course of that summer but the music always brings back good feelings.

Watch and enjoy the way back machine.

M