Vocal Expressions

A few months ago, Brenda Bunting (Washington, DC poet and author friend of mine) told me that her cousin, Emma Lou Black (founder of the Heritage Book Club in Lexington, Kentucky) planned on reading my book, Gotta Let It Go , for the club’s August meeting. Emma Lou asked whether I would be interested in doing a Facebook live meeting or coming to Kentucky. Since I’d never been to Kentucky, I said “What the heck? Let’s do this road trip.” So, on Friday, August 17, 2018 Brenda and I embarked on the trip to Kentucky. It was a nice ride with the exception of areas of road work and a brief thunderstorm. Anyway, when we arrived later that night, I was too thrilled to meet Emma Lou. We stayed up until 2 am talking, drinking and laughing. In the morning, the excitement was building for the book club meeting scheduled for 6 pm that evening. The kitchen was hopping with Emma Lou preparing a feast with an expansive and mouth-watering menu of beef brisket, fried chicken, mac-n-cheese, collard g...

Although I have seen a few adaptations of Steven King’s books on the big screen (e.g. Green Mile, Dead Zone, etc.) I had never read any of his books until now. What intrigued me about The Green Mile was that it was written in six installments (aka a serial novel – over a six-month period) with each part revealing yet another piece of the puzzle around John Coffey, an inmate on death row. In Part 1, readers are taken back to 1932 where they get to meet Paul Edgecombe who dubbed himself “the E Block super—the head screw” at the Cold Mountain State Penitentiary. Readers also get to learn about the Green Mile, a long corridor with its lime green floor. If prisoners made a left turn at the corridor then they were lucky enough to be given a life sentence and if they made a right turn then they were headed for Old Sparky, the electric chair. King’s prolific characterization of the inmates and the penitentiary guards is spot on as well as their dialogue. I thoroughly enjoyed the fi...

Author’s Bio: The oldest of six children, L. J. Taylor grew up in New York City. As a child, she escaped her noisy siblings by voraciously reading every book in her parents' collection and every romance novel she could check out of the public library. Her tastes later expanded to include classics, spy novels, and thrillers. Inspired by the stories she read, she began writing poetry and song lyrics and even tried to write a fantasy novel at the tender age of 13. She began writing novels as an adult during National November Writing Month in 2007 and has been chugging along ever since. When she's not writing, L. J. practices law in Florida. DL: What’s the inspiration for writing your book? LJT: I’ve always loved romance novels and action movies, so I married the two genres in my novel. The heroines are very loosely based on me and my four sisters. So, Kathy Brooks is the oldest of four sisters and an attorney like me. But the rest of the story is entirely fictional a...

On Saturday, August 4, 2018 I ventured to Arlington, VA to attend the Sponsorship Sales Secrets Workshop by Lori A. Manns (Quality Media Consultant Group). The workshop was well attended by entrepreneurs and solopreneurs (including my friends, Cherrie Woods, Founder - Eclectic PR, Wendy Coakley-Thompson, Publisher - Duho Books and Deborah Franklin - Conversations with Deborah Franklin)interested in learning how to get sponsors for their books, businesses, and brands.  Lori packed a lot of knowledge in this 4-hour workshop and to tell you the truth this could have been an all day event. While I had some idea of what it meant to get sponsors, my knowledge didn’t come full circle until Lori defined what sponsorship was, the various types of sponsorships available, the challenges of seeking out the appropriate sponsors for your business, and having the right mindset when you make  sponsorship connections.     Sponsorship is providing support of an event, activity, p...

Author’s Bio: Kevin Don Porter is the author of The Calvin Crane Chronicles suspense series, and the Ross Roulette thriller novels. He has been a writer for CBS Local-DC and AXS.com. As a reporter he has interviewed New York Times best-selling authors, including Kimberla Lawson Roby, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Lee Strobel. Other celebrity interviews include Morgan Freeman, Lupita Nyong’o, Roma Downey, Hayden Christensen, Kate Bosworth, Joseph Fiennes, Duck Dynasty’s Missy Robertson, the cast of the film War Room, and other public figures. Visit his website at  www.kevindonporter.com. DL: What’s the inspiration for writing your book? KDP: MISSING is about a boy named Calvin Crane who accidentally gets involved in the case of a girl who’s been abducted and believes he’s become the kidnapper’s next target. The search for the girl is paralleled by his search for self-acceptance. I wrote MISSING because I wanted to share my main character, Calvin Crane—in all of his irreverence, ...