Find Your Way Back by Javacia Harris Bowser

 

All of us have different coping mechanisms that we use to get us through tough times. And we do need to do what is best for us. A lot of times, though, it does help to write out what is going on in your head. You don't need to share it. But author Javacia Harris Bowser is sharing some of her stories and tips to help you write your way through all that life has to throw at you. Take a look at this excerpt and then follow the tour for more. Best of luck entering the giveaway!

Award-winning freelance journalist Javacia Harris Bowser is convinced that writing is a superpower. She sees her life as proof of it since writing has helped her navigate marriage, crisis of faith and body image issues. It also helped her to beat cancer.

As a Black woman from the South, Javacia has used the written word to explore issues of gender and race as well as religion. Find Your Way Back is a collection of essays that demonstrate how Javacia has used writing to achieve some of her wildest dreams such as being a public speaker, having her own column, and being her own boss. The book also explores how writing, self-love, and faith helped her overcome her worst nightmare: a cancer diagnosis in 2020. Javacia’s goal is to show readers how writing can transform their lives as well. The book includes prompts throughout to help readers start their own writing journey.

This book is for the woman who has wanted to write since she was a girl but struggles to find the time or the courage to put her words on paper. Find Your Way Back, shows that instead of putting writing on the back burner when life gets turned upside down, we should turn to it to help life make sense again.

Read an excerpt:

- from “Write Like a Girl”

On my eleventh birthday, I declared I was a woman. I have no idea why. My budding boobs barely filled my training bra, and I wouldn’t get my period for another year. But it was as if turning eleven declared I was number one and said it again for good measure, and I believed it.

I can’t recall exactly what I decided to wear on this special day, but I do remember slouch socks were involved. I also remember that I didn’t want a party because birthday parties were for children. A woman–especially one who at the time fancied herself a poet–should spend her birthday having a quiet evening at home writing in her journal, reflecting on her past, and making plans for the years to come.

What I’m trying to say is eleven-year-old me was ridiculous. But I think about this girl often. Sometimes to become the woman you’re meant to be, you must remember the girl you used to be. Sometimes you must write like a girl.

When you write for a living, it can be hard to remember how to do this. When you write for a living, you can easily forget to write for yourself. You can forget to write simply for the love of words, for the joy of stringing together sentences. It can be hard to remember what it felt like to write with no regard for readers or a deadline, but that’s what writing like a girl is all about.

Sometimes I think back to that eleven-year-old girl–who thought she was a woman–and I challenge myself–just for a few moments–to forget about building a brand or pitching publications and just write. Yes, I can get back to business later, but right now, just write.

Buy on Amazon or at See Jane Write

(affiliate link included)

Javacia Harris Bowser is an award-winning essayist and journalist and the founder of See Jane Write. A proud graduate of the journalism programs at the University of Alabama and the University of California at Berkeley, Javacia has written for USA Today, HerMoney.com, and Good Grit magazine. Named one of Birmingham’s Top 40 Under 40, she believes we can all write our way to the life of our dreams.

IG & Twitter @seejavaciawrite, #FYWBBookTour

IG @TheLiteraryLobbyist #TheLiteraryLobbyist @DawnMichellePR on Twitter

The Literary Lobbyist will be awarding one $25 and one $50 Amazon or B/N GC to randomly drawn winners via rafflecopter during the tour.

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E.S. Ruete, author of Off Season: A Novel of Healing, on Writing

Welcome to Uplifting Reads! Today author E.S. Reute is sharing about his own writing history before introducing us to his latest book, Off Season. You can also check out an excerpt from the novel and enter a giveaway. Please leave him any comments or questions you may have. Be sure to visit the rest of the tour for even more fun guest posts, interviews, and excerpts.

Please note that affiliate links are present within this post. Should you make a purchase through one, I may earn a small commission to help me support my websites, at no additional cost to you.

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How long have you been writing?

I’ve been writing most of my life. I was 12 or 13 when I wrote a parody of Poe’s “The Raven” called “The Seagull.” In Eighth grade I wrote an Italian sonnet just to prove it could be done in English. Of course it wasn’t very good and it wasn’t a love sonnet, but it fit the meter and the rhyme scheme. Then in ninth grade I had a poem published in the school paper. It was about the gym teacher’s infamous paddle, Big Sam, and was a parody of Jimmy Dean’s “Big John.”

In High School I was a very prolific poet. I had about twice as many pieces as anyone else number after number. The editor of the magazine started to refer to me as “The Bard of Cedar Cliff.” Some of my favorites were my cinquan, a French verse form of five lines of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 2 syllables.

I majored in writing at Penn State. I did great in technical writing, led my class in journalism, and wrote some of my best work in biographical writing. I even did okay in poetry. But the only class where I did worse than my two fiction courses was playwriting.

Almost every job I had in 40 years of varied careers involved some sort of technical writing. As a submarine officer, I was on the boat that was often the first to get new equipment and I had to write operating instructions for it. I have written procedures, policies, statements of work, proposals, requests for proposals, and test analyses as I progressed through careers as a technical editor, technical writer, defense analyst, government contracting officer’s technical representative, business analyst, and methodologist. I have always prided myself in being able to transcend the mundane and tell a story in my test analyses and statements of work, and yet when required write procedures that are unenduringly boring to read but have clarity of structure and content that make them extremely easy to use.

In 1991 I wrote my first book, The Strategic Information Resource Management Planning (SIRMP) Facilitator’s Handbook in support of the U.S. Coast Guard. I became a prolific blogger on meeting facilitation (except in those days there were no blogs, the forum was an email list server). I was also a frequent contributor to The Facilitator new letter, Group Facilitation journal, and other publications and presented papers at software, business process, and facilitation conferences on two continents. I wrote by two general-interest non-fiction books, Seeking God and Lead Your Groups to Success. But I still avoided fiction.

I finally got over it by listening to Anne Lamott who, in Bird by Bird talks about letting the character tell the story. This was reinforced by Erica Jong who, in Any Woman’s Blues has her alter ego, Isadora Wing, the purported author of the book, argue in the margins with her character about where the character is taking the story. I actually got to ask Jong about that at a book signing. So when I finally decided that I was going to stop avoiding fiction, that I was going to write from 4:00 to 5:00 every afternoon, I just started listening to what my characters had to say. Something poured out of my pen every day, and in eight weeks I had Off Season.

Since then, the problem has been trying to find a story as compelling as the story Dottie told, one that will get me back to the writing desk every day.

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Off Season: A Novel of Healing

Dottie woke up wondering where she was and why she was so cold. The first thing she noticed was that she must be outside – she was lying on cold ground and snow was hitting her in unusual places. That’s when she noticed the second thing. Her skirt was pulled up past her waist and her panties were gone. Damn those bastards. It started to come back to her.

Dottie is now on an odyssey; a journey not of her choosing; a journey of healing, integration, and reconciliation that will involve her partner, her friends, her enemies, her church, her whole community. And her rapists. As she fights her way through social stereotypes about rape and rape victims, she also finds the strength to overcome society’s messages of who she should be and lays claim her true self. But the memories, the loss, the anger – and the fears – never go away. No woman chooses to be raped. I asked Dottie why she chose to tell me a story of rape. She said that millions of women, hundreds every day, have stories of rape that never get told. She told her story because she could. Because she had to. Because maybe people would hear in a work of fiction a Truth that they could not hear in any other way.

Buy links

Amazon / Making Space Consulting

Read an excerpt:

“Look to your left. That person has divinity inside them. Look to your right. That person has a divine spark. Now tap the shoulder of the person in in front of you. When they turn around, say, ‘Namasté. I honor the divine spark within you.’

“As you prepare to celebrate Christmas, as we prepare to invite one another to the communion table, think on this: Mary was an unwed mother, but she was not unclean. Joseph was a lecherous old man, but he was not unclean. The shepherds lived in the fields with the sheep, but they were not unclean. The Magi were heathens from a pagan land and probably not circumcised, but they were not unclean. And Jesus was born among the donkey dung and slept on top of a cow’s supper, but He most assuredly was not unclean.

“Let it be so.”

As Pastor Allen spoke, Mandy sat with her arms folded across her chest and her legs pressed together. When others were looking left and right, she didn’t move, and when she was tapped on the shoulder, she didn’t turn around. She just pursed her lips into a tighter line.

But those who sat near her thought they saw the least glimmer of a tear in the corner of her eye. Whether it was for her church, or for the Pastor, or for herself, no one could guess. Even Mandy didn’t know. But part of her, a part she was afraid of, a part she was trying to ignore, thought that maybe, just maybe, it was for Dottie.

About E.S. Ruete

E.S “Ned” Ruete is an author, speaker, group facilitator, women’s rights activist, LGBTQIPA+ ally, lay preacher, guitar picker, and business analyst. He is the author of Seeking God: Finding God’s both/and in an either/or world and Lead Your Group to Success: A Meeting Leader’s Primer.

Now retired, Ned lives in Niantic, Connecticut with his second wife. He continues to offer pro bono group facilitation and facilitation training to schools, churches, community groups and not-for-profit organizations. He has led strategic planning retreats for United Action Connecticut (UACT), Fiddleheads Food Co-op, and ReNew London. He is actively involved in LGBTQIPA+ advocacy and annually attends and presents sessions at the True Colors Conference. He is a member of the International Association of Facilitators (IAF) formerly served on the Association Coordinating Team (ACT, the IAF Board of Directors). He was associate editor of Group Facilitation: A Research and Applications Journal and has contributed articles to Group Facilitation, The Facilitator, and other publications on group facilitation and management consulting.

Off Season is Mr. Ruete’s first fiction work

See his consulting products at MakingSpaceConsulting.com

( http://www.makingspaceconsulting.com/default.html)

and his books at MakingSpaceConsulting.com/Publish: 

http://www.makingspaceconsulting.com/Publish.html

https://twitter.com/edwardruete

https://www.facebook.com/esrueteauthor

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Tracy Reed, author of 'Generational Curse,' on her writing process

Thank you so much to author Tracy Reed for stopping by the blog today. Many readers and writers love to hear about authors' writing processes. Here, Tracy shares what she does.

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What’s my writing process? It would be nice to say, I do endless research and plot out every little detail. That I have a set time of day to write and the environment has to be just right…temperature at a cool 70 degrees, coffee in my favorite cup, a scented candle burning and dressed a certain way. I do use music to help with the love scenes or very emotional.

I’m sure there’s a writer out there like the one I described, but it ain’t me. I know that’s not good English.

I am what’s known as a “Panster.” In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a writer that just goes with the flow. The only things I note about a story are the beginning and the end. How they get there, for me is part of the writing process. It’s like reading a book, if that makes sense. I tried to plot once, but I never referred to it. When I did find the file, the story had completely changed.

When I sat down to write GENERATIONAL CURSE, it started with an idea. A loose woman attracted to a chaste man, who only wants friendship. At first, I didn’t think it would work. Then I jumped ahead to the end of the story and knew it would.

I started writing the story with the ending in mind. In order for Kyla to be attracted to Sean, I knew he had to be an incredibly good looking man. And for him to be tempted, she had to be very beautiful. In my mind, he was always tempted by her, but he never gave into the urge. In an early draft, I had them kiss very early in the story which led to confusion for both of them, but the follow up didn’t make sense. So I delayed the kiss. Without giving too much away, once they did, it opened the door for a lot of speculation, anticipation and temptation.

The only real to planning I do is with my Pinterest boards. I am a huge fan of Pinterest. I use it to research my characters. If I’m trying to describe a character and get stuck, I visit Pinterest. I have a board devoted to good-looking men. As well as on for curvy women. [Most of my female characters are petite and packed with lots of curves and most of the men are very tall and well-built.]

I’m working on a book for Summer release and one of my character descriptions was off. I headed over to Pinterest and did a little pinning and found the perfect man. I stared at him [my job is so hard…staring at hot men] until I could put his looks into words. For me, it’s the best way to do character development.

Once I’ve completed the book, I let it sit a few days and then start editing. I give myself about two weeks. Then I make the changes and start the revision process. I try not to let this step drag out. Then I send a clean copy to my editor. When I get it back, I deal with her edits and then it’s on to print formatting.

Print formatting takes a little while, because this is where I’m designing the book’s personality. [cover, font, chapter headings, etc.]. While I’m writing I look for possible cover images. This can be a tedious process searching for the perfect image. I’ve learned not to jump the gun, here. I bought the image for my Summer release a while back and now it doesn’t work with the revised story. So I had to shelve that one and start over. Now I have a cover I love.

Once I have both files, I load them, get a proof and do another edit. On this edit, I’m looking for anything I missed and make sure the story reads well. If I’m happy with it, I give it to my content readers. That’s how I refer to my advance readers. I have three ladies that read for me. At this point I’m looking for any typos, grammar errors and story flow.

These ladies aren’t writers, but readers. They represent my audience. I take their comments and make any necessary corrections and changes and then it’s on to a final print proof. I’ll read the book again and if everything is good, it’s on to the ebook formatter.

While the book is with the eformatter, I’m setting up marketing and starting the process again with the next book.

Generational Curse

by Tracy Reed 

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BLURB:

What happens when a celibate Christian man befriends a woman involved with a married man? Sean knows he should run in the other direction, but Kyla tempts him to abandon his Christian beliefs for a taste of the forbidden. But if he continues the relationship, can he convince that being with a married man isn't the fantasy life the generations of women in her family made it appear to be?

Sean Prescott and Kyla James are business associates playing a dangerous game of cat and mouse hoping the other will give in. But in this high stakes relationship game, is there really a winner or will both be losers?

Read an excerpt:

“What do I do about Sean?”

“What about him?” Mike asked.

“I think I’ve fallen in love with him.”

“Okay, I know this is a female thing.” He started to leave.

“Honey, sit down.” DeeDee patted his leg.

“You know I’m no good with the dating stuff,” he pleaded with DeeDee.

“I know, but you’re his friend.”

He took a deep breath. “He’s a great guy, but you already know that. And you probably know how much Francesca hurt him. Has he given you any reason to think he may feel the same?”

“Kyla, forgive my husband. Honey, you’re right, I’ll handle this. Go check on Michelle.”

“Thank you.” He stood up, “Kyla, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Thank you Mike or is it Pastor?”

“It’s still Mike. We’re friends, remember.” He smiled and walked down the hall.

“Okay, tell me everything,” DeeDee urged.

“I can’t get him out of my head. He told me he was going on a blind date and I got upset. And after I told him I broke up with my boyfriend and how hurt I was, he came over with ice cream. Well, gelato. It’s one of the things we like to do, eat gelato. We meet twice a week for coffee and lunch, and occasionally we go to dinner or brunch. And when I’m not feeling well, he comes over with groceries and rubs my feet and takes care of me and Winnie. Then he drove me to my parents and stayed with us the weekend. He said I needed to be around my family. He and my mother have become friends.” She chuckled. “I think they’ve been conspiring to get me to change.”

“I think it’s pretty safe to say, he feels the same way.”

Buy links

Author Website / Amazon / Barnes & Noble / iTunes / All Romance / Smashwords

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I’m a single Christian Woman who loves God, Fashion and Cute Guys. I live in California, but consider myself a partial New Yorker because of the two and half years I lived there. I own www.thepinkduchess.com, a lingerie site for curvy women. GENERATIONAL CURSE is my debut novel.

WEB CONTACTS

Website: www.readtracyreed.com

Blog: readtracyreed.wordpress.com

Facebook: facebook.com/readtracyreed

Tumblr: writertracy.tumblr.com

Pinterest: pinterest.com/readtracyreed

Twitter: twitter.com/readtracyreed

Goodreads: goodreads.com

Tracy will be awarding a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour, and a $10 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn host. Follow along for more chances to win!

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Pros and Cons of Writing a True Story - Thoughts by Shawna C. Jones, author of 'Twist of Fate'

Pros and Cons of Writing a True Story

I can think of several pros and cons to writing a true story, as I did in my book. First, I know where the story is going. I don’t have to make up something. Also I know who all the characters are. And I can eliminate some, or keep them in if I want to. The problem with this is, of course, anyone who knows the story will recognize themselves or others. Something to be very concerned about. I didn’t realize it, but when I took a writing class, the instructor warned us about the problem with this. Most of them legal, of course. She said we needed permission to write about others, and if we didn’t have it, there could be consequences. Since this was a memoir class, I became pretty concerned. However, several students in the class said they didn’t care. They were speaking the truth and if they got sued, let a court decide. I didn’t like that idea at all. And although I wrote the book as a memoir at first, the idea of not having permission still gnawed at my conscience.

This particular issue brought out disturbing thoughts for me. I had already told the instructor I was writing a book based on a true story, but with fictional characters. She said that would not protect me. Apparently she wrote a memoir, and had several characters in her book come forward to challenge her accusations. She this was definitely something to think about, and she would not advise writing memoirs because of it. However, I knew I would this book no matter what, so decided on fiction, even though I knew a lot of it wasn’t.

I changed the characters identity by names, nationalities, slight changes in body shape and hair, so as not to be recognizable. Now the problem is, if someone knows the story, they will recognize themselves or others. There is nothing I can do about that. I wrote a lot of it through the true events, including my personal “stuff” shall we say. I can’t speak for others, and decided I wouldn’t. I told the story as it happened. That made it hard because I didn’t want to make something up that wasn’t true. Now if I was writing fiction, I could have done that, and this would be a different book. As it is, it speaks for itself.

The real problem I had was nationalities, since I didn’t want to out the country I lived in, or that particular place. I opted for a place I knew fairly well and went from there. My sister does not know I wrote about her, and hopefully she never will. I haven’t told her or other family members. Now that can be a pro or a con depending on how you want to look at it. She will probably not take what I wrote about her too kindly. I kept her personality pretty much as I experienced it. I doubt she would sue me, but you get my drift. My parents and John’s are both deceased. So no problem there. John’s family would probably not sue me, but I also didn’t want to hurt them, and I kept them out of the book. So it is a dilemma to eliminate or keep characters in. Who do you protect and why? Also if I kept these characters in, I would have had to add a lot of events which would distract from the story. In my opinion, it wouldn’t have added much to the book. It was a decision I made, and I can live with that. In fact, I wrote one of my drafts with more of his family in it, and an editor told me to leave them out.

This is the story my soul wanted to write and I honored that request. The rest of my books will not be so serious or self-revealing. I did the right thing, which is who I am. So next time, my writing will be different and fictional. At least I hope so.

Twist of Fate

by Shawna C. Jones

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BLURB:

Shawna grew up with a secret that she couldn't share with anyone. She thought of it as her "inner demon" and it shaped her life. When she became an adult, it sent her on a quest to try to find her Real Home. In Paris, she fell in love with a fellow traveler who changed her life, for better or worse. Their relationship was full of discovery and of lessons learned.

How could she come to terms with her "inner demon"? Can we change our fate or karma? Does love really conquer all?

This book is based on a true story of an independent woman's search for her true self and the meaning of life, and how she found answers in unexpected places.

Read an excerpt:

“Are you alright?” I asked, touching her hands, which were now empty, but still shaking a bit.

“I will be. Give me a minute.” She closed her eyes.

I bent down and started picking up the pieces of the cup. Tea leaves were splashed everywhere. One group looked like Tower Bridge, but one group caught my eye. As I looked at it closely, it seemed to be a face. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female, but it had slits for eyes and mouth. I tried to get closer still, when my aunt’s foot tapped it and it disappeared.

I quickly picked everything up and went to get a broom and dustpan. My aunt looked at me and smiled a little.

“I’ll take care of everything. You just relax.” I went inside and came back out. I cleaned everything up. When I came back out I found her standing at the edge of the patio; she was staring at the ocean.

She turned and looked at me. Color had come back into her face and she appeared calm.

“I don’t know what happened there. But there was definitely an unknown entity around. You have a lot of protection around you. Make sure white light surrounds you at all times. Be very careful of the future you’re stepping into. Some of it is a problem. I don’t like it. I don’t like it at all.”

“I’ll change it.”

“Yes. Some of it, you might be able to. You can always try.” She didn’t sound convincing.

“You don’t know what it is?”

“No. But veils are not a good sign. Just be careful and try not to be too concerned about anything.”

“You know that won’t happen.” We both smiled. I hugged her tightly. What would I do without her?

I knew I liked to live in the fast lane. Perhaps I would have to move over to the slow lane for a while. No. That would not be me. And besides, Paris was waiting for us.

Lesson: Always protect yourself. And when a psychic warns you, pay extra close attention.

Available on Amazon

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Shawna C. Jones lives in the US, when she's not traveling the world. She lives with her husband, and "inner demon" quite peacefully now. She is continuing her mission of helping others, and encouraging young people to travel and follow their dreams.

https://www.facebook.com/ShawnaJonesAuthor

http://www.shawnacjones.com/

Shawna will be awarding the winner's choice of a $50 Amazon GC, a $50 Starbucks GC, or a crystal from Middle Earth Store in Mt. Shasta to a randomly drawn commenter during this tour and a $25 Amazon or Starbucks GC to a randomly drawn host. Follow the tour for more chances to win!

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'Writing Habit Mastery' by S. J. Scott $0.99 Countdown Special 1/13-1/19

LEARN:: How to Forever Eliminate Writer's Block and Write THOUSANDS of Words a Day

Do you struggle to write every day? Many people dream of becoming a successful author, but can't *find* the time to write. The truth is this: Great writers don't have more time than you do. They make time to write. Not only do they make time, they also follow specific routines that help them avoid writer's block altogether.

By developing the "writing habit" you'll have the confidence to sit down in front of a computer every day, knowing the words will come.

YOUR GOAL:: Write 2,000 Words a Day -- Every Day!

One of the key factors to effectively developing ANY habit is choosing a specific, measurable goal. So if you want to become a prolific writer, then you'll need to choose a specific word count for each day. While I *suggest* 2,000 words as a goal, you can pick any number that fits in with your busy schedule. You might choose 500 or 1,000 words a day. Or, you might have more time than I do (or write faster than I do) and choose to write 3,000 or 10,000 words each day. The important thing is to establish a daily word count goal and then stick to it.

In "Writing Habit Mastery" you'll learn how to incorporate writing into your daily routine. What you'll get is a strategy and list of tools that will help you develop a sustainable writing habit and demolish writer's block.

DOWNLOAD:: Writing Habit Mastery - How to Write 2,000 Words a Day and Forever Cure Writer's Block

"Writing Habit Mastery" contains a step-by-step blueprint of habits and routines you can use to develop this routine.

Inside this guide you'll learn how to:

• Establish the PERFECT writing routine and environment
• Find the time to write--even if you have a full-time job
• Minimize distractions and interruptions
• Crank out PUBLISHED works on a consistent basis
• Create an energized state where you're ready to write
• Make money from your completed books or screenplays
• Follow a simple seven-step process that prevents writer's block

You can write thousands of words every day. All you need is a strategy to develop this habit.

Available on Amazon

S.J. Scott believes that the way to improve yourself is to set achievable goals and develop daily habits that move you towards these outcomes. That's why he publishes actionable books that help you immediately develop positive habits.